Acer 641 



** Leaflets pale beneath. 



54. Acer nikoense, Maximowicz. Japan, Central China. 



Leaflets three ; terminal one about 4 inches long ; lateral leaflets slightly 

 smaller and unequal -sided ; elliptical, acute ; margin crenate, ciliate ; under 

 surface villous on the midrib and nerves, scattered pubescent between the 

 nerves. Petioles stout, and like the young branchlets, densely woolly. 



A tree, attaining 50 feet in height, with smooth, dark, slightly furrowed 

 bark ; leaves turning brilliant scarlet in autumn. Introduced by Maries in 

 1 88 1. A tree at Coombe Wood is about 30 feet high. 



55. Acer griseum, Pax. Central China. 



Leaflets three ; terminal leaflet about 2^ inches long ; lateral leaflets smaller 

 and unequal-sided ; coarsely toothed and ciliate in margin ; woolly pubescent 

 on the midrib and nerves beneath. Petioles slender, and, like the young 

 branchlets, pilose. 



A tree, attaining 40 feet in height, with bark peeling off like a birch. 

 Introduced by Wilson in 1901. Young plants at Coombe Wood are about 

 3 feet high. (A. H.) 



ACER PSEUDOPLATANUS, Sycamore 



Acer Pseudoplatattus, Linnaeus, Sp. PL 1054 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 414, 448, 

 (1838); Willkomm, Forstliche Flora, 749 (1887); Mathieu, Flore Forestiere, 37 (1897). 



A large tree, attaining about 100 feet in height and 20 feet in girth. Bark' 

 smooth and greyish on young trees, Assuring and scaling off in large strips on 

 old trunks. Leaves (Plate 206, Fig. 20) 4 to 8 inches in length and width, cordate 

 at the base; lobes five, ovate, acuminate, coarsely and irregularly serrate, lateral 

 lobes larger than the basal ones ; sinuses extending about half-way to the midrib, 

 and very acute at the base ; upper surface dark-green, shining, glabrous ; lower 

 surface paler green and glaucous or sometimes reddish, pubescent along the 

 principal nerves ; petiole without latex. The leaves usually turn brownish in 

 autumn, and are often disfigured by black blotches, caused by the fungus known 

 as Rhytisfna acerinum, Fr., which, however, does little or no harm to the vitality of 

 the tree.^ 



Flowers in long pendent racemes, composed of umbellate cymes of three 

 flowers each, the central flower in the cyme usually perfect, the two lateral flowers 

 staminate, with longer stamens and abortive ovaries ; pedicels short ; sepals five, 

 deciduous, greenish-yellow ; petals five, greenish-yellow, imbricate, inserted at the 

 margin of a fleshy hypogynous disc. Stamens eight, inserted on the disc ; filaments 

 subulate ; pubescent below, ovary tomentose. Fruit : keys divergent at a varying 



In the Edinburgh Botanic Garden there are trees about a foot in diameter, which have remarkably white bark, 

 resembling that of a birch, The largest sycamore in the garden measured, in 1906, 78 feet in height, and 13 feet 7 inches 

 in girth. 2 cf_ Board of Agriculture, Leaflet ^o. 183. 



