80 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
SAPINDACEX. 
central parts of the continents species are more multiplied than in the western parts, and arc common 
and characteristic features of vegetation. 
Sixty or seventy species may be distinguished,’ nearly half of them belonging to China and Japan, 
which must be considered the headquarters of the genus.’ 
2 
One widely distributed species of southern 
India is found in Sumatra and Java;* twelve are endemic to the Himalaya-mountain region,’ and twelve 
to Europe and the Orient.® 
In North America nine species occur ; five of these belong to the Atlantic 
ani two to the Pacific region ; one is peculiar to the central mountain ranges, and one extends across 
the continent. 
The wood of Acer is light, close-grained, and moderately hard. The bark is astringent and yields 
red and yellow colormg matter,’ and the limpid sweet sap of some of the American species is manufac- 
tured into sugar. 
nus, the American A. burbatum, and the Indian A. Campbellii.? 
The most valuable timber trees of the genus are the European Acer Pseudo-Plata- 
In Japan the wood of Acer is little 
employed, although that of A. pictwin’? sometimes serves for the interior finish of buildings; a few 
species supply material for turnery and for making trays and other small objects, and the mucilaginous 
inner bark of A. crateyifolium™ is used in paper-making. 
Acer contains several species which have been planted for centuries as. ornamental trees in Europe ; 
and in North America and Japan,” where the brilliant colors assumed by the foliage of many Maples 
increase their value. 
iv. Spitzbergen, 86, t. 22-24, 25, f. 1-3), so that it probably existed 
in polar regions before its appearance in central Europe, where the 
early vestiges of Acer date only from the upper Eocene. (Saporta, 
Origine Paleontologique des :irbres, 281.) 
1 Dr. Ferdinand Pax, in his recent Monograph of Acer (Engler 
As, 
however, he sometimes establishes species on single herbarium spe- 
Bot. Jahrb. vii. 177), distinguishes more than eighty species. 
cimens without flower or fruit, his views will be accepted with cau- 
tion in the case of a genus in which individuals and even parts of 
individuals show such a tendency to leaf variation ; and the species 
of Acer, if they are all ever studied in the field, will perhaps be 
found to be nearer sixty than eighty in number. 
2 Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Pctersbourg, xxvi. 437 (Mél. 
Biol. x. 591). — Franchet & Savatier, Enum. Pl. Jap. i. 87. — Fran- 
chet, Pl. David. 176, 230; Pl. Delavayane, i. 144, t. 31. — Forbes 
& Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 140. 
8 Dr. Heinrich Mayr estimates that fully thirty per cent. of the 
deciduous forests of Japan are composed of different species of 
Maple. 
4 Acer niveum, Blume, Rumphia, iii. 193, t. 167, B, f. 1. — Miquel, 
Fil. Ind. Bat. i., ii. 582. 
5 Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 692. 
6 Nyman, Conspect. Fl. Europ. 135. — Boissier, Fl. Orient. i. 
947. 
7 Le Maout & Decaisne, Trait. Gn. Bot. English ed. 356. 
8 Linnzus, Spec. 1054. — Fl. Dan. t. 1575. — Reichenbach, Icon. 
Fil. Germ. v. t. 164. 
The wood of Acer Pseudo-Platanus is compact and firm without 
being very hard ; it is easily worked and does not warp or shrink 
when properly seasoned. It is much used in central Europe in 
turnery and wood-sculpture, and in the manufacture of trays, vio- 
lins, and other musical instruments, and of rollers, spoons, plates, 
It has a high 
fuel value, both in the quantity of the heat it produces and in the 
pestles, and many other small household utensils. 
length of time it burns. The leaves, gathcred green and dried, are 
used as winter fodder for sheep in some parts of Europe. 
9 Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 696. Acer Campbellii is the princi- 
pal Maple of the northeastern Himalaya, where the wood is used 
in large quantities for planking and in the manufacture of tea- 
boxes. (Gamble, Aan. Indian Timbers, 101.) 
10 Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 162.— Franchet & Savatier, Enum. Pl. 
Jap. i. 87. — Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, xxvi. 443 
(Meél. Biol. x. 599). — Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 696. In India, 
where A. pictum is also widely distributed from the Indus to As- 
sam, and is the most common species of the northern Himalaya, 
its wood is used for construction and in the manufacture of plows 
and other articles ; and its branches are cut for the winter fodder 
of cattle. (Gamble, Man. Indian Timbers, 101.) 
11 Siebold & Zucearini, Abhand. Akad. Miinch. iv. 2,155; Fl. 
Jap. ii. 84, t. 147. — Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, 
xxvi. 441 (Meél. Biol. x. 596). 
12 Acer palmatum (Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 162. — Maximowicz, Bull. 
Acad. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, xxvi. 448 [Mél. Biol. x. 607]), Acer Ja- 
ponicum (Thunberg, J. c. 162. — Maximowicz, J. c. 605), both in 
many forms, and A. diabolicum (Miquel, Prol. Fl. Jap. 20. — Maxi- 
mowicz, 1. v. 593), are the most commonly cultivated Maple-trees 
in the gardens of Japan, in which they are considered indispensa- 
ble ; and the last holiday excursion of the year is made late in the 
autumn by the Japanese lover of nature to look on the brilliant 
colors of A. polymorphum.(Rein, Japan nach Reisen und Studien im 
Auftrage der Kéniglich Preussischen Regierung dargestellt, ii. 325.) 
As a general rule the European Maples which have been planted 
in the United States have not proved long-lived or handsome trees. 
The exception is the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), which 
flourishes here, especially in the neighborhood of the ocean, as well 
as any of the indigenous species, reproducing itself naturally and 
abundantly. Acer Pseudo-Platanus, the most stately and beauti- 
ful of the European Maples, and one of the most beautiful trees of 
the genus when it grows in the mountain valleys of central Europe, 
fails to become a large or long-lived tree in the United States ; and 
none of the Asiatic species which have been planted here appear 
capable of adapting themselves permanently to the climate. 
