The Trees of Vermont 175 



ACERACEAE 



Ked Maple. Swaiiii* Maple 

 Acer nibrum L. 



Habit. — A medium-sized tree 40-50 feet higli, occasionally in 

 swamps 60-75 feet; trunks 1-3 feet in diameter; upright branches, 

 which form a low, rather narrow, rounded crown. 



Leaves. — Opposite, simple, 3-4 inches long and nearly as broad ; 

 3-5-lobed by broad, acute sinuses, the lobes irregularly do'ubly serrate 

 or toothed ; glabrous, green above, whitish and generally glabrous 

 beneath, turning bright scarlet in autumn ; petioles long, slender. 



Flowers.— April-May, before the leaves ; polygamo-monoecious 

 or dioecious; in few-flowered fascicles on shoots of the previous year, 

 the pistillate red, the staminate orange ; sepals 4-5 ; petals 4-5 ; stamens 

 5-8 ; ovary smooth. 



Fruit. — May- June, germinating immediately after reaching the 

 ground ; samaras small, on drooping pedicels 2-4 inches long ; wings 

 about 1 inch long, diverging at about a right angle. 



Winter-buds. — Dark red, blunt ; terminal bud about y^ inch long, 

 with bud-scales rounded at the apex ; flower-buds clustered on side 

 spurs. 



Bark. — Twigs bright red, lustrous, becoming smooth and light 

 gray on the branches ; old trunks dark gray, ridged, separating into 

 plate-like scales. Plate VII. 



Wood. — Heavy, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with thick, 

 lighter colored sapwood. 



Distribution. — Common throughout Vermont. 



Habitat. — Prefers swamp-lands or banks of streams ; moist 

 woods. 



Notes. — The scarlet flowers of this maple give us the brightest 

 spring welcome from the trees. When the red maple is a blaze of 

 color and the other trees are still bare and brown, it is conspicuous and 

 unmistakable, and in autumn the rich coloring of its leaves makes it 

 conspicuous again. The leaves of the sflver maple turn yellow and 

 those of the sugar maple yellow or red, but not the crimson or deep red 

 of the red maple. It is distinguished from the sugar maple by its 

 smoother, dark gray bark and by the deeper acute incisions of the 

 leaves although they are subject to much variation. The fruit is about 

 one inch long and like that of silver maple falls in early summer. This 

 tree, common throughout the eastern United States, is very generally 

 distributed in Vermont. 



