666 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



autumn ; keys, f inch long, erect, convergent ; carpels glabrous ; wings brownish 

 or reddish. 



The Montpellier maple in the wild state varies in the amount of pubescence 

 on the leaf, the apex of which may be sharp or rounded ; and the margin, usually 

 entire, is occasionally toothed. The keys of the fruit are occasionally so convergent 

 as to cross each other in their upper part (var. rumelicum, Grisb.). 



A hybrid between this species and A. Opalus, known as A. Peronai, von 

 Schwerin,* has been found in the Apennines at Vallombrosa. Another hybrid, A. 

 rotundilobum, von Schwerin,^ occurs between this species and A. Opalus, var. 

 obtusatum, and is mentioned in the synopsis, p. 634. 



The Montpellier maple is widely spread throughout Southern Europe, from 

 Portugal to Turkey. It occurs also in the mountainous regions of Algeria and 

 Morocco, and extends eastwards through Asia Minor to the Caucasus,* where it 

 grows at elevations between 3000 and 5000 feet, and to Turkestan. In France, it 

 is common in the south in dry, rocky situations ; and ascends on the west as far 

 north as Poitiers and Niort, and on the east to Gap, Lyons, Grenoble, and 

 Chambery ; and, according to Christ,^ grows at two spots near Bugey, in the 

 southern Jura. It is found in Germany in the mountains of Rhineland, as far north 

 as Coblenz and in the valleys of the Moselle and Nahe rivers ; and also grows at 

 Wiirzburg in Bavaria. In Switzerland, it is wild near Geneva, in the Jura, at 

 Fort de I'Ecluse.^ In Austria, its northern limit extends from the Southern Tyrol, 

 through Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, and Croatia to Banat ; and the tree is spread 

 southward through the Balkan peninsula to Greece. 



This species has been found* in the fossil state in England, in interglacial 

 deposits at Stone, Hants, and Selsey, Sussex. 



It was introduced into England, according to Loudon, in 1739, and in the 

 southern counties thrives very well, ripening its fruit perfectly, and attaining a larger 

 size than any wild trees recorded in Southern Europe. 



There are two fine trees in Ricksmansworth Park, Herts, growing in a good 

 loamy soil overlying chalk, which, in 1904, measured 50 feet in height by 8 feet 

 3 inches (Plate 190) and 45 feet by 8 feet i inch. There are two good specimens in 

 the grounds behind the Herbarium at Kew, which were covered with flowers on 

 April I, 1907. These are about 45 feet high, and girth respectively 5 feet 10 inches 

 and 5 feet. There are also trees of a considerable size at Oxford, Fulham Palace, 

 and Bicton. At Ewelme Rectory, Wallingford, there is a wide-spreading tree, 

 which the Rev. Canon Cruttwell informs us is 36 feet high, and 9 feet in girth near 

 the base. At Arley Castle, near Bewdley, there is a tree 35 feet high, by 6 feet 

 9 inches in girth at one foot from the ground, above which it divides into two 

 limbs. 



In the Edinburgh Botanic Garden a tree measures 34 feet by 4 feet 2 inches. 



In the Jardin des Plantes at Paris there is a fine specimen, which I measured 



> Mitt. D. D. Gesell. 1901, p. 59. Ibid. 1894, p. 50. 



* Radde, Pflanzenverb. Kaukasusldnd. 184 (1899). * Christ, F/ore de la Suisse, SuppL 64, 65 (1907). 



Christ, op. cit. 466. Reid, Origin Brit. Flora, 113 (1899). 



