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Acer pennsylvanicnm. (Striped Maple. Moosewood. 

 Whistlewood. No. 12.) If the love of trees is in 

 your heart, a thrill of joy must leap through you 

 when you stand face to face with the striped maple. 

 The beautiful veining of the fine stripes running length- 

 wise up and down the trunk and branches is a sight that 

 sends the eye roving over them in keen delight. These 

 very stripes alone are enough to identify the tree. The 

 trunk bark is of a deep reddish brown, and the fine 

 stripes or lines crinkle through it in delicate whitish 

 or lightish streaks. The younger shoots are greenish, 

 and on these the stripes are dull blackish. You can- 

 not mistake the tree if you note its bark. It has broad, 

 goose-foot leaves, divided into three lobes, the end 

 lobes running out into long finely cut points. They 

 are of a lovely clear green, and of tender texture 

 especially in spring. If you look at their leaf stalks 

 you will see that they are grooved and swollen at the 

 base. Sometime in May try to get near these lovely 

 trees when they are in full bloom. If you succeed you 

 will never forget the fairly little chimes of drooping 

 racemes of bell-shaped yellow flowers swinging on 

 slender stems, under the soft green leaves. Five tiny 

 little petals make up their corollas. The staminate and 

 pistillate flowers are carried usually in separate racemes 

 on the same tree. In the staminate flowers, the stamens 

 are usually eight. Pale green, broadly winged keys 

 tied together in a hanging chain, succeed the fairy 

 flowers. Look closely at these keys or samaras (fruits) 

 as they are botanically called. Can you see that small 

 cavity on each side of the fruit? This is a feature 



