SAPINDACE. 
9+ SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
Acer circinatum inhabits the coast of British Columbia, and extends southward through Washing- 
ton and Oregon to Mendocino County in California. In Washington and Oregon it is one of the most 
common of the deciduous-leaved trees, lining the banks of streams up to an elevation of four thousand 
feet above the sea-level, and reaching its greatest size on the low alluvial soil of bottom-lands. In such 
situations the vine-like stems spring four or five together from the ground, spreading in wide curves 
and sending out long slender branches which root when they touch the ground and form impenetrable 
thickets of contorted and interlaced trunks, often many acres in extent and so dense that no other plant 
can grow beneath their shade. In California the Vine Maple is smaller and much less common, growing 
along streams in the coniferous forests. 
The wood of Acer circinatum is hard, heavy, close-grained, and not very strong; it is light brown 
or sometimes nearly white, with thick lighter colored sapwood and many thin medullary rays. The 
specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.6660, a cubic foot weighing 41.51 pounds. It is used 
for fuel, for the handles of axes and other tools, and by the Indians of the northwest coast for the bows 
of their fishing nets. 
Acer circinatum was discovered in 1806 near the cascades of the Columbia River by the members 
of the transcontinental exploring expedition under command of Lewis and Clark. It was introduced 
into cultivation in 1827 through the Horticultural Society of London, which received seeds from David 
Douglas... In New England it has proved the hardiest of the trees from the Pacific coast, forming a low 
round-headed tree with a short stout trunk and long branches that sweep the ground, flowering and 
ripening its seed every year, and here unsurpassed in beauty of form, foliage, and flower by any of the 
smaller trees of the genus which are known in cultivation. 
1 David Douglas (1798-1834) ; a Scotch gardener sent by the 
Horticultural Society of London to explore the forests of the North- 
west Territory, is, from his courage, energy, and success in the pres- 
ence of great difficulties and dangers, and from his untimely and 
horrible death, a conspicuous figure in the annals of American 
Douglas, who had been trained by Sir Wil- 
liam Hooker and had made a short botanical journey in eastern 
botanical exploration. 
America in 1823, was sent in 1824 by the way of Cape Horn to the 
Columbia River, where he arrived in April, 1825. He spent two 
years in Oregon, discovering some important trees, including Abies 
nobilis, Abies amabilis, and Pinus Lambertiana, the largest of its 
race. In March, 1827, Douglas started from Fort Vancouver on 
the Columbia, crossed the continent by the Hudson’s Bay posts, and 
embarked for England, which he reached in October of the same 
year. Two years later he left England for the last time and 
reached the mouth of the Columbia on the 3d of June, 1830, re- 
maining in Oregon until the autumn, when he sailed for Monterey. 
Here he remained until the next summer, discovering no less than 
a hundred and fifty species of undescribed plants, and then sailed 
for the Sandwich Islands. 
to the Columbia River, and in the following summer extended his 
In the autumn of this year he returned 
exploration as far north as the Fraser River, in which he was 
wrecked, losing his collections and instruments and barely escaping 
with his life. 
from the awful solitude of the sombre Fir forests of the northwest, 
and in October, 1833, he sailed again for the Sandwich Islands. 
Here he passed the winter, and on the 12th of July, 1834, while 
engaged in exploring the high peaks of the islands, he fell into a 
But the beauties of tropical vegetation lured him 
pit in which a wild bull had been captured, and several hours later 
was found dead and terribly mangled. 
Douglas is said to have introduced two hundred and seventeen 
species of plants into English gardens, the list including many valu- 
able and beautiful trees like the Redwood, the Sugar Pine, and the 
Douglas Fir. No other collector has ever reaped such a harvest in 
America, or associated his name with so many useful plants. By 
an unfortunate hazard of fate the noble Douglas Fir, the most im- 
portant timber-tree introduced by Douglas, and one of the most 
valuable trees in the world, does not, as might well have been the 
case, perpetuate his name in the language of science, and it is a 
humble primrose-like alpine herb which commemorates this ex- 
plorer of forests and discoverer of mighty trees. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Pirate LXXXVIII. Acer cIiRcINATUM. 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
A staminate flower, enlarged. 
Vertical section of a staminate flower, enlarged. 
. A pistillate flower, enlarged. 
ote Oo bo 
. A petal, enlarged. 
Vertical section of an ovary, enlarged. 
A fruiting branch, natural size. 
Vertical section of a samara, natural size. 
CHAD 
. Vertical section of a seed, enlarged. 
10. An embryo displayed and much magnified. 
11. Winter-buds, natural size. 
