20 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



with the 5-10 stamens on a perigynous or hypogenous disk ; ovary 2-3-ceued and 

 lobed, usually 1-2 ovules in each cell, embryo mostly convolute'd ; no albumen. 

 Fruit a membranous, inflated pod, a leathery thick subsperical pod with nut-like 

 seeds, or a winged samara. 



GENDS ACER, TOURN. 



Leaves opposite, simple, palmately-veined, 5- or occasionally 8-lobed ; stipules 

 none. Flowers small, in axillary racemes or corymbs, regular, polygarno-dioecious, 

 usually unsyrninetrical ; pedicels not jointed ; sepals 5 (or 4-9), more or less united, 

 colored ; petals sometimes wanting, but when present, 5 (4-9), equal and furnished 

 with short claws : stamens, commonly 8 ; ovary, 2-lobed, formed of 2 united carpels, 

 each bearing 2 ovules, only one of which commonly attains maturity ; styles 2, long 

 and slender, united only below and stigmatic down the inside. Fruit a double 

 samara, finally separating when mature and ready to fall, the wings strengthened 

 by a rib along one margin ; cotyledons, long and thin. 



(Ancient Latin name of the Maple.) 



79. ACER PENNSYLVANICUM, L. 



STRIPED MAPLE, MOOSE- WOOD. STRIPED DOGWOOD, WHISTLE-WOOD. 

 Ger., Gestreifter AJiorn ; Fr., EraUejaspe; Sp., Arce ray ado. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves palmate with three acuminate lobes, rounded at 

 base, sharply and finely doubly serrate. Flowers appear after the leaves (May, June) 

 yellowish, large (about ^ in. across), in simple loose terminal drooping racemes ; petals 

 obovate ; stamens 6-8. Fruit in long drooping clusters, with light green diverging 

 wings about 1 in. in length. 



A small tree, rarely 40 ft. (10 m. ) in height and 10 in. (0.25 in.) in 

 diameter at base, but more commonly a tall shrub. It is a handsome 

 tree at all seasons of the year and none the less so in winter when leaf- 

 less, as its principal beauty lies in its bark. That is smooth and on the 

 small vigorous limbs of a delicate light green color, and on larger limbs, 

 slightly ridged and handsomely striped lengthwise with light-green and 

 dark and light purple. Altogether this is a bark rarely equalled in 

 beauty. On largest trunks it is of a brownish gray color still somewhat 

 striped, but also blotched with whitish and checked into firm low longi- 

 tudinal ridges. 



HABITAT. From the valley of the St. Lawrence westward to Minne- 

 sota and southward to Virginia, Kentucky and along the mountains to 

 Georgia, growing in cool rich soil along the banks of streams, etc. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood of medium weight, hardness and 

 strength, close-grained, satiny and of a pinkish brown color with whitish 

 sap-wood. It is often marked with specks and streaks of parenchymatous 

 tissue. Specific Gravity, 0.5299; Percentage of Ash, 0.36; Relative 

 Approximate Fuel Value, 0.5280; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 33.02. 



USES. It is too small a tree to be accounted useful as a source of tim- 

 ber supply. It is occasionly used for fuel and is suitable for turnery. 



