108 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. SAPINDACEA:. 
brilliant shades of scarlet or scarlet and orange. The flowers are pedicellate and are produced in few- 
flowered fascicles developed on the branches of the previous year from aggregated obtuse buds,! the stam- 
mate and pistillate flowers in separate clusters on the same or on different trees; they open in March 
and April before the appearance of the leaves, and are bright scarlet or dull yellowish red. The sepals 
are oblong and obtuse, and as long as and broader than the oblong or linear petals. There are from 
five to eight scarlet stamens, with slender filaments exserted in the sterile, and included in the fertile 
flower. The ovary is glabrous, and is borne on a narrow slightly lobed glandular disk; the styles are 
united for a short distance above the base, and then separate into long exserted stigmatic lobes.? The 
fruit, which ripens in the latter part of spring or in early summer, is borne on droopmg stems three or 
four inches long and is scarlet, dark red, or brown, with thin erect wings convergent at first and diver- 
gent at maturity, half an inch to an inch in length, and from a quarter to half an inch in breadth. The 
seed has a dark red rugose testa, thin foliaceous cotyledons, and a long thin radicle; it germinates 
immediately after falling to the ground. 
Acer rubrum is one of the most common and generally distributed trees of eastern North America. 
It extends from about latitude 49° north in New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario, southward to the 
Indian and Caloosa rivers in southern Florida, and westward to the Lake of the Woods, eastern Dakota 
and Nebraska, Indian Territory, and the valley of the Trinity River in Texas. It occurs along the bor- 
ders of streams or in low wet swamps, which it sometimes covers, particularly at the north, almost to the 
exclusion of other trees; or in the northern states it is mingled with the Black Ash, the Swamp White 
Oak, and the Gum-trees, and in the south with the Swamp Bay, the White Oak, the Loblolly Bay, the 
Red Gum, and the Cotton Gum. 
sippi River, and attains its largest size in the river-swamps of the lower Ohio and its large tributaries. 
It is most common in the south, especially in the valley of the Missis- 
The Red Maple is one of the most beautiful trees of the American forests, and is a conspicuous feature 
in the landscape in spring, when its branches, still destitute of leaves, are covered with its brilliant red 
fruit, or in the early autumn, when it enlivens the lowlands with a blaze of scarlet.’ 
The wood of Acer rubrum is very heavy, close-grained, easily worked, and not very strong. It is 
light brown, often slightly tinged with red, with a smooth satiny surface and many obscure medullary 
rays. The thick sapwood is rather lighter colored than the heartwood. The specific gravity of the 
absolutely dry wood is 0.6178, a cubic foot weighing 38.50 pounds. It is now used in large quantities 
in the manufacture of chairs and other furniture, in turnery, for wooden ware, and for gun-stocks. <A 
Ink is sometimes made 
domestically by boiling the bark of the Red Maple in soft water and combining the tannin which it 
contains in large quantities with sulphate of iron. At one time the bark was occasionally employed in 
dyeing.* 
variety with beautifully undulating grain is much valued by cabinet-makers. 
is a character, however, which can hardly be depended on in the 
case of this tree. Of two individuals standing side by side, one may 
have large thin five-lobed leaves cordate or truncate at the base, 
and the other small thick almost entire leaves rounded at the base ; 
or nearly all the forms may be found on different parts of the same 
tree, or sometimes even on the same branch. 
1 Linneus, Amen. Acad. ii. 204. 
? The flowers of the Red Maple are usually described as poly- 
gamous, and it is possible that perfect flowers occasionally occur 
on this tree. Much more commonly they are monecious or die- 
cious by the abortion in the pistillate flowers of the stamens, which, 
although they are apparently well-formed in the bud, do not 
lengthen after the flower opens, and fall without discharging any 
pollen. The staminate and pistillate flowers are generally produced 
on separate trees, although a branch with staminate flowers can 
sometimes be found on a tree on which the flowers are pistillate. 
Meehan notices that the sterile flowers of the Red Maple are fra- 
grant, and that the fertile flowers are scentless (Proc. Phil. Acad. 
1878, 122). 
® At the north A. rubrum is one of the first trees to change the 
color of its leaves, and the earliest general effects of autumn color 
are produced by this tree. It is not unusual in dry seasons to find 
individual trees beginning to assume their autumnal tints by the. 
end of August, while the majority do not turn until late in Sep~ 
tember or early in October. 
4 The characteristics of the bark appear to have been known to 
the Indians, as Josselyn, when describing an oil made by them in 
eastern Massachusetts out of the acorns of the White Oak, says: 
“The Natives draw an Oyl, taking the rottenest Maple Wood, which 
being burnt to ashes, they make a strong Lye therewith, wherein 
they boyl their white Oak-Acorns until the Oyl swim on the top in 
great quantity” (New England Rarities, 48). 
Travels, English ed. i. 168. 
See, also, Kalm, 
