THE ASH-LEAVED MAPLE AND THE ASHES. 239 

 Where or how the ash-leaved maple 



Ash-leaved Maple * 



or Box Elder. spent the first years of its existence 

 Negundo aceroides. nobody knows. The tree can not 



Acer JS'egundo. , .. 



account lor itself, but that it has 

 puzzled more than one botanist its various names 

 assuredly testify. Some one has thought it looked 

 sufficiently like the elder to name it box elder.* 

 Another has seen the strong resemblance of its foli- 

 age to that of the ash, and named it ash-leaved maple ; 

 and, finally, Prof. Sargent (following Michaux's initia- 

 tive) has sifted the qualifying aceroides down to plain 

 Acer f a common-sensible conclusion, it seems to 

 me, if one will look at the perfectly plain family 

 signature, the double-winged seed.:}: " By their fruits 

 ye shall know them." This really ought to be the 

 text of one who is in search of the real character of a 

 tree ; we can tell a great deal about that by the 

 leaves, but when there is a shadow of doubt we must 

 turn to the fruit. The leaf of the ash-leaved maple 

 has three or five slightly rough, strong-ribbed leaflets, 

 the outer edges of which are irregularly and coarsely 



* Michaux says this name was commonly used in the Carolinas, 

 so he adopted it also, although it was without any particular sig- 

 nificance. 



f Which is the name given by the younger Michaux. 



% My expressed opinion is, perhaps, presumptuous ; it is sim- 

 ply a case of ij)se dixit ! Many of the botanists believe that 

 Negundo aceroides is essentially different from the genus Acer. 

 17 



