MAPLE TREE. 



ACER. 



ACKK1NE.K. 1'OLYGAMIA MONO ( l.v. 



The etymology of the botanical name is uncertain. French, 

 f ruble; Italian, acero, stucchio: the Italian maple, loppo. 



THIS genus consists of trees, most of which yield a 

 saccharine juice from the trunk, branches, and leaves. 

 The leaves are either palmate, or are divided into three 

 or five lobes : the flowers grow in clusters, and are of a 

 yellowisl\ green colour, with exception of one species, of 

 Avhich the blossom is scarlet. 



The Tartarian Maple, Acer Tataricum, differs from 

 most of the genus in the form of its leaves, which are 

 something similar to those of the hornbeam, having 

 scarcely any apparent lobes. It is a native of the south 

 of Russia ; it grows about twenty feet high. The wood 

 is white, veined with brown. This Maple was cultivated 

 by Mr. P. Miller in 1759. 



The Scarlet-flowering Maple, Acer rubrutn, is culti- 

 vated in this country for the sake of the flowers, which 

 blow early in the spring. In Pennsylvania, where it grows 

 in the swamps and marshes, the natives use it for almost 

 every kind of wood-work : with the bark they dye a 

 dark blue, and make a good ink. The Canadians tap 

 the tree for the juice, of which they make sugar and 

 treacle. This tree was cultivated by J. Tradescant, 

 jun. in 1656. There arc two- varieties in the nurseries; 



