THE SILVER MAPLE OR WHITE MAPLE 



THE Silver Maple or White Maple or Soft Maple, as it is variously called, is one of 

 the best known of the Maples because it is a widely distributed species and has 

 been very generally planted as a shade and ornamental tree. It is always 

 easily distinguished by the white under surface of the leaves and the very characteristic 

 deep sinuses, the bases of the sinuses having smooth margins. As an indigenous species 

 the Silver Maple is especially likely to be found along the banks of rivers and other streams, 

 and it is distributed over a great range from New Brunswick and Ontario, south to Florida 

 and west to the Indian Territory, Nebraska, and Dakota. In the valley of the Ohio River, 

 trees more than a hundred feet high and three or four feet in diameter are often found, but 

 throughout the more northern parts of its range the trees are generally considerably smaller. 



The Silver Maple blossoms in earliest spring, usually during the latter part of March, 

 even in the more northern States. The flower-buds are crowded together generally at 

 the ends of short branches, each bud containing from three to five blossoms. For the most 

 part the flowers in a single bud have but one set of essential organs in a well-developed 

 condition. In those blossoms in which the stamens are perfectly developed the pistils 

 are abortive or entirely wanting, while in those flowers in which the pistils are well devel- 

 oped the stamens are abortive or wanting. Sometimes a whole tree will have one kind of 

 blossoms almost entirely ; sometimes a single branch will have one kind of blossoms 

 exclusively, and sometimes a single twig will have both kinds of flowers growing side by 

 side upon its tip. In the pollen-bearing blossoms the part called the calyx is light yellowish 

 green with five rather indistinct lobes and with four to six stamens projecting far beyond 

 the calyx. These pollen-bearing flowers are reddish in color, the color being especially 

 emphasized by the tiny pollen-bags or anthers. The seed-bearing flowers are conspicuous 

 on account of the ends of the pistils being of a crimson color. Although the imported 

 honey-bees may be seen on warm days gathering an abundance of pollen from the flowers, 

 the Silver Maple seems to be essentially a wind-pollenized species. This is indicated by 

 the lack of petals, the sudden maturing of the stamens, the manner of shedding the pollen, 

 and the absence of nectar and odor. The key-fruits develop rapidly and mature late in 

 spring or early in summer. 



It is needless to say that the Silver Maple is one of the best trees for street and 

 ornamental planting. Its chief disadvantage is found in the fact that it is a host tree for 

 the Maple- tree bark-louse, a pest that during recent years has become exceedingly trouble- 

 some on the shade trees of many cities. 



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