134 ACER 



handsomely cut foliage, and in the red or yellow tints many of them 

 assume in autumn. 



Few trees are more easily cultivated than these, their chief require- 

 ments being a rich moist soil and a moderately sunny, or at any rate not 

 unduly shaded, position. Some of the smaller species, however, like 

 A. rufinerve, A. capillipes, and A. argutum, like their stems shaded. All 

 the maples should, if possible, be raised from seeds; if grafting has to 

 be resorted to, as for the numerous coloured-leaved and variously habited 

 varieties, the scions should be worked on stocks of their own species. 



The number of species of maple has so largely increased in recent 

 years by the accession of newly discovered species in China, that no 

 ordinary garden can accommodate them all. The following is a rough 

 classification of the species (the most desirable for gardens marked *), 

 which will enable the student at least to narrow down the problem of 

 identifying his maples. But no perfect key can be based on the lobing 

 of the leaves, owing to their variability in this respect. 



I. LEAVES NOT LOBED. 



*carpinifolium, leaves hornbeam-like. 

 *Davidii, branches white-lined. 



distylum, leaves largest of this group. 



oblongum, leaves normally entire. 



tataricum, occasionally slightly lobed. 



tetrameruni) whitish hairs in leaf-axils. 



II. LEAVES THREE-LOBED. 



Bttergeriatnttn, leaves quite smooth. 



capillipes, branches white-lined ; ractmes drooping. 



conaceum, leaves quite smooth. 



cratczgifolium, branches white-lined ; racemes erect. 

 *creticum, shrubby, leaves often unlobed. 



Franchetii, stalk of leaf about as long as blade. 

 *Ginnala, often shrubby. 



glabrum, leaves thin and quite smooth, sometimes five lobe d. 



grandidentatum, branchlets and leaf- stalks reddish. 



latum var. tricaudatum, leaf-stalks milky. 



leucoderme, velvety down beneath the leaf ; sometimes five-lobed. 



Miyabei, leaf-stalk milky ; leaves sometimes five-lobed. (See Group III.J ' 

 *monspessulanum, leaf-stalk not milky. 

 *pennsyhanicum, branches white-lined. 



rufinerve, branches white-lined ; young shoot glaucous. 



spicalum, racemes erect, densely flowered. 



tetramerum var. lobulatum, whitish hairs in vein-axils. 



III. LEAVES FIVE-LOBED, WITH MILKY STALKS- 



campestre, green beneath. 



Dieckii, three-, four-, or five-lobed. 

 *lcelum, five- or seven-lobed. 

 . *Lobelii, habit columnar. 

 *macrof>hylhim, leaves up to I ft. across. 



Miyabei, sometimes three-lobed. 



neglectum, hybrid of campestre. 



pictum, five- or seven-lobed. 

 *platanoides, shining green beneath. 



(runcatum, base of leaf truncate. 



