ACER 145 



and irregularly toothed ; there is a tuft of whitish hairs at the end of the 

 downy leaf-stalk on the upper side, and the under-surface is furnished with 

 whitish hairs on the ribs and in their axils. Flowers purplish red, produced 

 in early April before the leaves in long-stalked clusters. Fruits at first 

 hairy, then smooth ; keys | to I in. long ; wings in. wide, spreading nearly 

 or quite horizontally. 



Native of Japan. The Japanese have long cultivated this maple, and 

 have produced several handsome varieties. The most popular of these is 



Var. AUREUM, whose leaf is wholly of a pale golden yellow, and very effective 

 during the whole of the summer. 



Var. FILICIFOLIUM, has the lobes reaching to within or J in. of the 

 end of the leaf-stalk, each lobe being again divided and sharply toothed. 



The typical A. japonicum often turns rich crimson in autumn. The 

 combination of characters which distinguishes it from other maples are, 

 the numerous leaf-lobes, the downy leaf-stalk, and the glabrous young 

 shoots. 



A. L^ETUM, C. A. Meyer. 



(A. cappadocicum, Gleditsch ; A. pictum var. colchicum, ffor/.") 



A deciduous tree, the bark of the branchlets smooth, green. Leaves green 

 on opening, five- or seven-lobed, heart-shaped at the base, 3 to 6 ins. across, 

 smooth except for tufts of hairs in the axils of the veins ; the lobes broadly 

 triangular, but "drawn out to a long tail-like point ; leaf-stalk milky when 

 broken. Flowers in corymbs about 2 ins. long, yellow. Fruits with wings 

 i j to if ins. long (twice to four times as long as the nutlets), spreading at a 

 wide angle. 



Native of the Caucasus and Asia Minor. There is much confusion between 

 this maple and A. pictum, and it is doubtful if they are really specifically 

 distinct most of the so-called pictum in cultivation are really this tree. 

 (In A. pictum the wings of the fruit are only one and a half times as long 

 as the nutlet, arid the branchlets are striped with grey-white lines and fissured 

 the second year.) The form of A. laetum most common in gardens is 



Var. RUBRUM, commonly called " colchicum rubrum," the expanding young 

 leaves of which are red. This form was introduced to England in 1846, and 

 there are now examples 50 ft. high in gardens. It grows wild, along with the 

 green-leaved type, in Daghestan, near Kuba, on the western shores of the 

 Caspian Sea, where, according to the late Mr Jean Van Volxem, the type and 

 this form grow "promiscuously, with all shades of difference between the two 

 extremes." A much more distinct tree is 



Var. TRICAUDATUM, Rehder, whose leaves are trilobed, rounded at the 

 base, \\ to 4 ins. long, smooth on both sides except for tufts of hairs in the 

 axils of all the chief veins beneath ; the lobes are ovate, narrower than in 

 the type, but with the same long drawn-out points. Wings of the keys four 

 times as long as the nutlet, and horizontally spreading. This very distinct 

 variety was introduced by Wilson from Western Hupeh, China, in 1901, and 

 there are vigorous young trees in the Coombe Wood nursery. 



Var. CULTRATUM (A. cultratum, Wallich}. Native of the Himalaya, where 

 it has long been known, but also native of China, where it was found by Henry 

 in Yunan and introduced for Messrs Veitch by Wilson in 1901. Leaves 

 five-lobed, rounded, scarcely heart-shaped at the base, stouter in texture j 

 fruits with reddish wings spreading out in an almost straight line. 



