Maples 265 



oped in good loam. They are preferably used as single specimens, 

 but make fine avenues, if not planted too close together. 



Closely allied, and similar in all respects, is the species of the Gulf 

 States — ■ 



A. floridanum Chapm. (139), fit only for southern planting. 



A. ruhrum Linn. (140), Red Maple, of similar range as the sugar 

 maple, is a most satisfactory tree from every point of view. Similar 

 in form to the sugar maple, although perhaps less stiff and regular in 

 branch habit, its beauty lies in the dark green foliage, pale to white 

 underneath, turning every shade of red, and in the bright scarlet flowers 

 and fruit which appear in early spring before the leaves. It is adaptive 

 to swampy situations as well as to the driest. If properly placed, it is 

 a sturdy and a more rapid grower than the former. 



A. saccharinum Linn. (141) {dasycar piim) , Silver Maple, resembles 

 in some forms of foliage the red maple, although otherwise it is quite 

 different from the former two, being irregular in outline with a rather 

 open crown and a straggling, spreading, yet graceful branch system, 

 with long slender, often pendent, branchlets. The foliage is deeply 

 cut into many acutely-pointed lobes, pale green above, silver}' white 

 beneath, and very variable in outline, but always most elegant. It is 

 a medium-sized tree, but rapid grower, especially in rich loam, where it 

 develops its best form and shadiest crown, but it thrives also in sandy 

 and gravel soils, with a slimmer development. Unfortunately its long, 

 weak branches are easily broken by storms, hence its beauty is of lim- 

 ited duration except in sheltered places. By systematic pruning this 

 trouble can be checked to some extent. 



A most pleasing, cut -leaved variety, A. Weirii (141a), vies with the 

 cut-leaved birch in elegance, but, like all such freaks, is to be used 

 with discretion. 



A. Pennsylvanicum Linn. (142), Striped Maple, Moosewood, a 

 small, slow-growing tree of upright, handsome, oval form, with large, 

 dark green, flaccid foliage, long pendent racemes of flower and fruit 

 and green -striped bark, is one of the most attractive small trees of north- 

 em range, the most shade -enduring of this very shade-enduring genus. 

 By grafting on other maples, it can be made to grow to much larger 

 size. It needs rich soil for best development. It is fine for large 

 border plantations. 



A.spicatum Lam. {i^-^, Mountain Maple, occurs generally as a shrub, 

 with small, pleasing foliage, turning to a variety of colors in autumn. 



