STUDIES OF LEAF AND TREE (PART III) 



155 



species of these trees are known and 

 described. The more or less incon- 

 spicuous red flowers of some of our 

 own species are familiar to every 

 one who has ever noticed the maples 

 lining the streets of his or her na- 

 tive city or town the Red Maple 

 among others. A big army of honey- 

 bees get after the feast as soon as 

 the warm spring days bring them 

 out. In less than a week these flow- 

 ers are in masses, and the effect is 

 enhanced by the gradual appearance 

 of the new leaves, which are also 

 of a brilliant red color. This Red 

 Maple (Acer rubrum) is one of the 

 best known of any of this group ; but 

 it does best, however, down in the 

 swampy lands, where its scarlet bud- 

 ding in early March largely con- 

 tributes to the glory of the opening 

 year. 



Our Silver Maple, or Soft Maple 

 as it is sometimes called (Acer sac- 

 char inum), is a superb representa- 

 tive of the family, but it must have 

 plenty of room to spread in. Then, 

 too, examples are frequently met 

 with that have grown to be at least 

 a hundred and twenty or thirty feet 



UPPER FIGURE, ARRANGEMENT OF 

 LEAVES IN THE BIG SHELL-BARK HICK- 

 ORY OR KING NUT: LOWER ONE, A LEAF 

 OF THE TULIP TREE (L. tulipifera) 



Fig. 44 In the fall, the dried leaves of the Shell- 

 bark Hickory are very beautiful objects, when 

 perfect, seven leaflets are found on the stem; 

 they are of a rich tan color and beautifully 

 culled up. 



BOX ELDER (Acer vegundo). ALTHOUGH IT 

 HAS "KEYS" LIKE THE MAPLES, THEY ARE 

 ARRANGED IN DROOPING RACEMES, AND 

 THE LEAVtS ARE QUITE DIFFERENT 



Fig. 42 When the Box Elder is of good size, per- 

 fect in form and foliage, with hundreds of strings 

 of these beautiful little "keys" swinging from 

 itsbranches, it is certainly a very charming ad- 

 dition to the woods in spring and early summer. 



in height, with a big, horizontal 

 spread, especially of the upper third 

 of the tree. Its limbs are slender 

 and lengthy, with the terminal twigs 

 inclined to droop. As its scientific 

 name indicates, its sap is sweet to 

 the taste. 



This species has a general distri- 

 bution over the eastern half of 

 the United States and Canada ; 

 and its wood is useful for some 

 purposes flooring, among other 

 things. Its sap, by boiling, makes 

 a pretty good kind of sugar; but it 

 is only occasionally that it is used 

 for that purpose. Silver Maples 

 are planted in a great many places 

 for their shade, and as such they 

 have met with considerable favor. 

 We have some very valuable trees 

 of this family, as the Sugar Maple 

 (A. saccharum) ; the Broad-leaved 

 Maple of the West (A. macrophyl- 

 lum) ; the Black Maple (A. ni- 

 grum) a fine tree for its sap and 

 a number of others. Lack of space 

 prevents giving any descriptions of 

 these; moreover, it is quite likely 

 that a number of them have already 



been described in earlier issues of 

 American Forestry by writers fa- 

 miliar with all their values and char- 

 acteristics. Then, too, mere descrip- 

 tions, without excellent photographs 

 of the subjects, their leaves, fruit, 

 and so on, do not go very far. 



Our maples are more or less near- 

 ly related to a number of other 

 groups of trees in this country ; 

 among these we may mention those 

 constituting the family Sapindaceae, 

 which contains the horsechestnuts or 

 buckeyes (Aesculus). There are 

 five species of these trees commonly 

 recognized, four being of eastern dis- 

 tribution and one in California (S. 

 calif ornica). Gray associates the 

 Soapberries (Sapindus) with the 

 horsechestnuts, and recognizes one 

 species for the eastern districts (S. 

 drummondi) . Several varieties of 

 horsechestnuts or buckeyes are rec- 

 ognized, but they need not concern 

 us here. 



Buckeyes or horsechestnuts may 

 readily be identified by their leaflets 

 being all bunched together at the 

 extremity of the leaf stem ; by the 

 erect, pyramidal and conspicuous 



WE HAVE A VERY HANDSOME TREE IN 

 THE OHIO BUCKEYE (Aesculus glabra), 

 THOUGH A DESPISED ONE ON ACCOUNT 

 OF THE UNPLEASANT ODOR GIVEN OFF 

 BY ITS BARK 



Fig. 43 Apart from the offensive odor here re- 

 ferred to, however, this tree, when in full flower, 

 is a most ornamental one, and often quite as 

 shapely and striking as the common horse chest- 

 nut. 



