346 DECIDUOUS TREES. 



feet in height and breadth. The character of its foliage is midway 

 between that of the sugar maple and the silver maple, but its growth 

 is not more rapid than the former. In cool moist soils it should be 

 preferred to the sugar maple. Meehan remarks that though " found 

 in swamps and morasses, it will thrive in any soil or situation." 

 We have observed that its foliage acquires a depth of green, and a 

 glossiness in very rich warm soils that give it quite a different ex- 

 pression from its ordinary appearance when growing wild. 



There is a variety advertised in some nurseries as the Acer 

 colchicum rubrum, said to be marked by the unusually deep purplish 

 red color of its young foliage. 



THE MOOSEWOOD OR STRIPED-BARKED MAPLE. Acer striatum. 

 This is a very peculiar small native tree, found principally in the 

 sheltered valleys of northern mountains, in shady places, where it 

 grows sometimes singly, but oftener in groups or stools composed 

 of many strong thrifty sprouts, which, from their straightness and 

 lightness, are used for impromptu fishing rods. The bark is very 

 smooth, and of a dark-green color, marked with stripes lighter and 

 darker than the general color, on wood several years old, and of a 

 warm yellowish or reddish-green hue on the fresh growth. Its 

 leaves are quite peculiar in form, light-green, without any gloss on 

 the upper surface, and of a grayish-green with strongly marked ribs 

 on the under surface, and very finely serrated. The buds and 

 leaves when beginning to unfold are rose-colored, and " it is one of 

 the first trees to announce the spring." It attains a height of 

 twenty to thirty feet, and forms an umbrella-shaped top of slow 

 growth after the first half dozen years. The seeds are grouped in 

 pairs on long peduncles, and in August when ripe are of a dull 

 rose-color, very abundant, showy, and beautiful. We have nowhere 

 seen it so abundant as on Mount Desert Island, in Maine, where, 

 in sheltered valleys between abrupt granite hills, it forms a part 

 of every copse-wood. We believe it will be found a tree of such 

 peculiar habit as to be interesting among other maples, and worth 

 much more attention than it has received from planters. Its small 

 size at maturity, and quick growth in its earlier years, recommend 

 it to persons forming a collection of maples for a small place. 



