204 FOREST TREES. 



Botanical description of Red or Swamp Maple : " Leaves palmate 

 3-5 lobed, mostly cordate at the base, incisely toothed, whitish and 

 nearly smooth beneath ; sinuses acute ; flowers red crimson, rarely 

 yellowish — on short pedicels — about five together, pedicels in fruit 

 elongated and pendulous ; fruit red, wings one inch long ; a handsome 

 tree common on low grounds and swamps, making a splendid appear- 

 ance in April, before the leaves appear ; often planted as an ornamental 

 shade tree on account of its red flowers. — Class Book of Botany. 



Soft Maple — Silver Maple — Acer dasycarpum, (Ehrh.) 



" No tree in all the grove but has its charm, 

 Though each its hue peculiar. " 



This species has its habitat most commonly by the banks of lakes 

 and streams, where it forms deep belts along the low lying swampy 

 shores, and sends up its slender upright branches, to a height of 

 seventy or eighty feet ; the ends of the twigs are red, the leaves are 

 darker in colour than the Sugar Maple or the Red Maple ; lobes five, 

 sharply cut and pointed at the ends, and very white underneath, turning 

 in early Autumn to deep crimson, beautifully blotched, and varied 

 with shades of yellow, rose, and green. When agitated by the wind 

 the leaves " turn up their silver linings to the sun," as the poet 

 beautifully expresses it ; the Iruit is tinged with rosy-red with large 

 diverging wings. There is a strong black dye extracted from the inner 

 bark which makes good ink, with a small proportion of copperas and a 

 little sugar to give it consistency. The sap is never utilized in making 

 sugar. The wood is white and soft, and of rapid growth, and less 

 valuable than that of the other Maples. But from the rapidity with 

 which it grows and its graceful appearance it is the best species to plant 

 in our towns and cities as a shade tree. 



There are several varieties of Shrubby Maples which never attain 

 to the dignity of trees. The Mountain Maple, Acer spicatiiiii, (Lam.), 

 is common in open thickets, the young leaves are reddish, and the fruit 

 light green, the surface of the leaf rough and veined, three lobed, downy 

 underneath ; the flowers are borne in upright terminal racemes, and 

 ai)pear in June, after the leaves have turned green. 



Another of our Shrubby Maples with racemes of showy yellowish 

 flowers, la/ge three-lobed foliage and green- winged fruit, is chiefly 

 found in woods with the preceding, this is ^f^r/'.?;/;/.fr/7Vi'///W<'/'//, (L.) 

 or Striped Maple. 



It is not so commonly found in our woods as the other species I 

 have mentioned. The bark is smooth, and striped with light and dark 



