S>ectouous Hrees. 167 



soil ; its long searching roots are apt to impoverish the 

 ground, and its weed-like propensities make it less desirable 

 than it would otherwise be. 



THE MAPLE FAMILY. 



Maple, Acer. The maples are very numerous, scattered 

 over a large part of the northern hemisphere, throughout 

 America, Europe, and Asia. They vary in size from shrubs 

 to tall forest-trees. All have more or less palmately-lobed 

 leaves. Their foliage turns into a beautiful bright yellow, 

 scarlet, or crimson in autumn. The flowers are racemose 

 or corymbose, sometimes conspicuous, as in the American 

 mountain maple, a tall and beautiful shrub. 



The sycamore maple (Acer pseudo-platanus) is a fine 

 tree with an elliptical crown and five-lobed leaves. The 

 flowers are produced in pendulous racemes. The Norway 

 maple (A. platanoides) is similar in habit, but the flowers 

 are produced in upright corymbs. There are several varie- 

 ties with variegated foliage of each species. The best forms 

 of the sycamore maple are A. Scliwedlerii, with bronzy-red 

 foliage, variegatum, with white variegated, and laciniatum, 

 with incised green and yellow leaves. The Norway maple 

 has a white variegated form, albo variegatum, and one with 

 yellow-margined leaves, flavo variegatum. Among other 

 large forms is the silver maple (A. dasycarpum), with the 

 under side of the leaves silvery white. It forms a moder- 

 ately large tree with slender branches and an obovate out- 

 line. The large-leaved maple (A. macrophyllum) has the 

 largest leaves of any and a regular habit. It is seldom seen 

 in cultivation, but has no rival for beauty and utility. For 



