Acer 669 



in the wild state. It does not grow at so great a height on the Caucasus by at least 

 1000 or 1500 feet, so far as I was able to observe. The form of the tree is more 

 columnar. The light green colour of the leaves makes the difference between the 

 two conspicuous and remarkable. The colour of the bark and the shape of the buds 

 are different." (A. H.) 



Introduced from seeds collected by van Volxem in the locality mentioned 

 above, a tree, sent to Dr. Masters in 1877 and planted in his garden at Ealing, 

 grew very rapidly, producing splendid large foliage, silvery white on the lower 

 surface. This tree is still living, but has been headed down, as there was no room 

 for it to develope, and is now only about 15 feet high and i foot 10 inches in girth. 

 It has not borne fruit. Dr. Masters told me that all efforts to propagate it by 

 grafts, cuttings or layers failed, though tried by some of the leading nurserymen ; 

 and he considered this tree, which he watched from 1877, to be the fastest-growing 

 and the noblest of the maples. 



A. Volxemi flowered for the first time in 1891, in Belgium; and its distinctness 

 from the sycamore was then clearly established. A small tree at Kew, now about 

 20 feet in height, has flowered several times and produced fruit. There are also 

 healthy young trees at Frensham Hall, and in the garden of Mr. Chambers at 

 Grayswood, both of which places are near Haslemere. 



M. E. Louis, of Simon Louis Fr^res, the well-known nurserymen at Metz, 

 informed me in a letter dated October 1902, that he cultivates the true A. Volxemi, 

 which is sometimes erroneously called A. Trautvetteri. 



In November 1902, through the kindness of the Grand Duke Nicholas 

 Mikhailovitch of Russia, I obtained a quantity of fresh seed of this species, as well 

 as of A. insigne, from Lagodechi, the original locality ; and have raised a number of 

 plants from them. These grow rapidly, but have not as yet ripened their autumnal 

 growths well, and in consequence are rather bushy. The tree may, however, be 

 considered perfectly hardy, and is well worth growing on account of its rapid 

 growth and splendid foliage. 



Acer insigne, var. Wolfi, von Schwerin,' raised from seeds sent from the Caucasus 

 by Herr Wolf of St. Petersburg, is apparently, from the description, a variety of 

 A. Volxemi, distinguished by the very large leaves, perfectly glabrous and deep 

 purple in colour beneath. (H. J. E.) 



ACER TRAUTVETTERI 



Acer Trautvetteri, Medwedjeff, ex Trautvetter, Act. Hort. Petrop. vii. 428 (1880); Wolf, Garten- 

 flora, xl. 263, figs. 58-61 (1891). 



Acer insigne, Nicholson, Gard. Chron. xvi. 75, f. 14 (1881), and J. D. Hooker, Bot. Mag. 6697 

 (1883). (Not Boissier and Buhse.) 



A tree attaining, in the Caucasus, 50 feet in height and 6 feet in girth ; bark 

 grey, smooth. Young branchlets glabrous, green, becoming dark red in the first 



' Mitt. Dtut. Dendr. Get. 1905, p. 210. 



