152 ACER 



most ornamental of early-flowering trees, producing its blossoms regularly and 

 in great abundance in March and April ; they are of a clearer and more 

 pronounced yellow that in most maples. There are several good specimens at 

 Kew, the largest nearly 50 ft. high and 5 ft. in girth of trunk. There is much 

 confusion in the nomenclature of this maple. It is very variable, and some 

 authorities separate the two following varieties from it as distinct species : 



Var. NEAPOLITANUM (A. neapolitanum, Tenore ; A. obtusatum var. 

 neapolitanum, Pax). Leaves up to 6 or 7 ins. wide, covered with a pale felt 

 beneath, the lobes quite shallow, especially the basal ones. Flower-stalks 

 hairy, remaining so until the fruits ripen. Native of the country about Naples, 

 where, like the type farther north in Italy, it is largely employed in vineyards as 

 a support on which to train the vines. 



Var. OBTUSATUM (A. obtusatum, JtitaibcF). Leaves on the whole larger 

 than in the type, and up to 5^ ins. wide, the lobes more rounded and the 

 whole under-surface covered with a close down; flower-stalks hairy; fruit-wings 

 not so large as in var. neapolitanum. Native of Central and E. Europe. 



A. PALMATUM, Thunberg. JAPANESE MAPLE. 

 (A. polymorphum, Siebold^ ' 



A deciduous tree of rounded form, rarely seen more than 20 ft. high in culti- 

 vation, but more than twice as high in a wild state ; habit rounded, often wider 

 than high ; branchlets smooth. Leaves usually seven- sometimes five-lobed in 

 the typical form, 2 to 3^ ins. long and wide ; the lobes ovate-lanceolate, cleft 

 two-thirds of the way to the base of the blade, sharply double-toothed, smooth on 

 both surfaces except in the axils of the ribs beneath ; green at first, becoming 

 bronzed or purplish in autumn. Flowers in somewhat erect, smooth, stalked 

 umbels ; smalj and purple. Fruit smooth ; keys about \ in. long ; wings \ in. 

 wide, much incurved, the pair forming a broad arch. 



Native of Japan ; whence it was introduced to England in 1820, but since 

 found by Wilson in Central China. Having long been cultivated by the 

 Japanese, it has produced an extraordinary number and variety of forms differ- 

 ing in colour and form of leaf. Many of these continue to be imported from 

 Japan, and to many of them unwieldy Latin names have been given. No 

 attempt can be made here to do more than describe the most distinct and 

 representative of them. The four following groups are arbitrarily made, and 

 some forms perhaps may as reasonably be put in one as the other : 



1. PALMATUM. Leaves five-lobed, as described above. 



AUREUM. Leaves yellow when 3'oung, becoming golden later. 



LINEARILOBUM. Lobes of leaf narrow, reaching almost to the base, green. 



There is also a purple-leaved form of this. 

 RIBESIFOLIUM. Green ; lobes of leaf cleft to the base and deeply and irregularly 



jagged at the edges. 

 ROSEO-MARGINATUM. Leaves rosy at the edges. 



2. SEPTEMLOBUM. In the typical form of this variety the leaves are seven-lobed, 

 larger than in palmatum, suffused with red when young, afterwards green, finally turning 

 brilliant red before falling. 



ATROPURPUREUM. Leaves rich purple. 



BlCOLOR. Leaves of two colours ; carmine, and red as in sanguineum. Some- 

 times the carmine is laid on in blotches ; sometimes one-half the lobe or one-half 

 the leaf is of that colour. 



ELEGANS. Leaves up to 5 ins. long, green, the lobes deeply and prettily toothed. 

 There is a purple-leaved form of this. 



RETICULATUM. Veins of leaf green ; the interspaces yellow, white, and pale 

 green. 



SANGUINEUM. Leaves as in the type, but purplish red. 



