CHAP. XXII. ACERA CER. ACER. 4.25 
differing so very little from it as hardly to be worth cultivation as 
distinct. The leaves of A. r. coccineum are somewhat redder in 
spring, when they expand, than those of A. rubrum. 
Description. Yn America, the red-flowering maple, Michaux observes, is 
the earliest tree, the bloom of which announces the return of spring; it is in 
flower, near New York, from the 10th to the 15th of April. The blossoms, which 
are of a beautiful purplish or deep red, unfold more than a fortnight before 
the leaves. They are aggregate, and situated at the extremity of the branches. 
The fruit is suspended by long flexible peduncles, and is of the same hue with 
the flowers; though it varies in size and in the intensity of its colouring, 
according to the exposure and dampness of the soil. The keys and the seeds 
are one half smaller than those of A. eriocarpum, and they ripen sooner. The 
leaves are also smaller than those of that species; but, in most other respects, 
they resemble them. They are glaucous and whitish underneath ; and are 
palmated, or divided into 3 or 4 acuminate lobes, irregularly toothed. The 
extremities of this tree, which are formed by numerous twigs united at the 
base, have a remarkable appearance when garnished with flowers and seeds of 
a deep red, before vegetation has begun generally to revive. Before the red- 
flowering maple exceeds 25 ft. or 30 ft. in height, and 7 in. or 8 in. in diameter, 
its bark is perfectly smooth, and marked with white blotches, by which it is 
easily distinguished. Afterwards, the trunk, like that of the white oak 
(Quércus alba) and sweet gum (Liquidambar Styraciflua), becomes brown 
and chapped. In this tree, as in others which grow in wet places, the sap- 
wood bears a large proportion to the heart-wood, if, indeed, the name of heart- 
wood can properly be given to the irregular column, star-like in its horizontal 
section, which occupies the centre of large trunks, and which has points, from 
lin. to 3in. in length, projecting into the sap-wood. (Michaux, p. 218, 219.) 
The wood weighs, when dry, 44 1b. per cubic foot. The tree only attains its 
full size in rich soils. Somewhat large forests of it in America, when their 
summits are covered with flowers, are said to present a very singular and 
grand appearance. 
Geography. In America, towards the north, the red-flowering maple appears 
first, scantily, about Malebaye, in Canada, in 48° north latitude; but, in pro- 
ceeding southward, it soon becomes more common, and abounds in Florida 
and Lower Louisiana. Of all the trees which flourish in grounds which are 
occasionally overflowed, this species is most multiplied in the middle and 
southern states. It occupies, in great part, the borders of the creeks, and 
abounds in all the swamps, which are often inundated, and always miry. In 
these situations it is accompanied by the black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), sweet 
gum (Liquidambar Styraciflua), shellbark hickory (Carya squamdsa), swamp 
white oak (Quércus Prinus discolor), black ash (F'raxinus sambucifolia), 
and white ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata). To these are added, in the Caro- 
linas and Georgia, the small magnolia, or swamp bay (Magnolia glatca), the 
water oak (Quércus aquatica), loblolly bay (Gordonia Lasianthus), tupelo 
(Nyssa aquatica), and the red bay (Latrus carolinénsis). It is a remarkable 
fact, that, west of the mountains, between Brownsville and Pittsburg, the red- 
flowering maple is seen growing on elevated ground, with the oaks and the wal- 
nuts; but, in such situations, it does not attain such ample dimensions as in 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey: in these states exist extensive marshes, called 
maple swamps, exclusively covered with it; where it is found 70 ft. high, and 
3 ft. or 4 ft. in diameter. (Michaux, p. 217, 218.) Elliot observes that, in 
“ descending the mouths of our large rivers, the red maple is the last tree 
found in the swamps, the tree diminishing in size as the soil becomes impreg- 
nated with salt, until it dwindles down to a shrub, and, mingling with the can- 
dleberry myrtle (JJyrica cerifera) and Baccharis halimifolia, it finally dis- 
appears.” (Hook, F/. Bor, Amer., i. p. 114.) 
History. This tree was cultivated by Mr. John Tradescant, jun., in 1656. 
It was for a long time confounded with A. eriocarpum. It is described, in the 
first edition of Du Hamel, as A‘ cer fléribus rubris ; and A. eriocarpum, as A‘cer 
