142 THE MAPLE AND THE SYCAMORE. 



ticularly fond of it, and in Virgil we have Evander 

 represented sitting on a maple throne. A corky 



SUGAK MAPLE. 



bark forms another feature of the common 

 English maple ; and as if this were not sufficient to 

 give botanical mark to the tree, the flowers are of 

 the curious nature called " polygamous ; " some, that 

 is to say, are bisexual, others are only male, others 

 are only female. The pistil, when present, is very 

 elegantly formed, having the figure of a column, 

 with two volutes at the summit, disposed after the 

 manner of those in the Ionic style of architecture. 



It may be useful to add that the sycamore-tree, 

 above described, and which by botanists is named 

 Acer Pseudo-platanus, is totally different from the 

 sycomore of Scripture. How the name came to be 

 extended to a tree so unlike is not known, or at 

 least no explanation of it occurs in books. The 



