664 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



This is kept up as a distinct species by Pax and Schneider ; but intermediate 

 forms are common, and there are no distinctive characters in the flowers or fruit. 



2. Var. neapolitanum. 

 Acer neapolitanum, Tenore, Fl. Napol. ii. 37a (1830). 



This variety differs from the last in the lobes being still shorter, with the 

 basal lobes often obsolete ; and the lower surface of the leaves (Plate 206, Fig. 15) 

 is covered with dense whitish tomentum. 



Distribution 



This species is widely distributed in Southern Europe, extends eastwards 

 into the Caucasus, and also occurs in Algeria and Morocco. The typical 

 form is found in the mountain forests of the south and south-east of France, 

 ascending as high as the silver fir, and is recorded* from the Jura, Burgundy, 

 Lyonnais, Dauphin^, Savoy, Alpes Maritimes, Provence, Aveyron, Pyrenees, and 

 Corsica. It rarely attains a height of more than 30 feet, and is often only a 

 bushy small tree. It also grows in South-western Switzerland, extending along the 

 Jura as far north as Neuchitel, and is also found in the Apennines of Northern 

 and Central Italy. 



Var. neapolitanum is found in wooded regions in the mountains around Naples, 

 ascending as high as the beech, and attains, according to Tenore,^ large dimensions 

 in the Basilicata and Calabria. 



Var. obtusatum is widely spread through Italy, as far south as Calabria and 

 Sicily, and is common in the Balkan peninsula, extending from Croatia, through 

 Istria, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Servia, and Herzegovina to Roumelia, reaching its most 

 southerly point in the Pindus range. In the Caucasus, according to Radde,^ it 

 is confined to the province of Talysch, where it grows at elevations between 

 1500 and 5000 feet. It is also found in Algeria and Morocco. ; (A. H.) 



Cultivation 



This species was introduced, according to Loudon, from Corsica in 1752, and 

 though little known in general cultivation and rarely found in nurseries, has 

 apparently a first-rate constitution, and is perfectly hardy. It ripens fruit in this 

 country ; and I have raised plants from seed sent me in 1901 by the Earl of Ducie, 

 which grew the first season as fast as a sycamore, and are now about 10 feet high. 

 It is one of the first of the maples to come into flower, early in March at Kew ; and 

 when in full flower the tree has a most handsome appearance. Its leaves colour 

 nicely in autumn ; and this maple is well worth a place in pleasure grounds, where it 

 is not particular about soil, if this is well drained. 



* Rouy et Foucaud, Flore Je la France, iv. 150 (1897). ' Essai Giog. Roy. Naples, 81 (1827). 



' Pfiantenverb. Kaukamsldnd, 184 (1889). 



