642 



The Maples 



branches, and appear in spring after the leaves are grown, both sterile and fertile 

 ones usually in the same clusters; the sepals are obovate, blunt, yellow, and about 

 as long as the narrower yellow petals; in the sterile flowers the stamens are 

 nearly twice as long as the petals; in tlie pistillate flowers they are very short. The 

 samaras vary from 4 to 6 cm. in length; the somewhat divergent wings are i to 2 

 cm. wide, and the seed-bearing part is densely covered with long hairs. 



The tree is hardy as far north as southern New York, but does not succeed 

 very well in eastern North America, while doing splendidly in European parks. 

 Its wood furnishes a very valuable lumber, with specific gravity of about 0.49; it 

 is soft and reddish brown, and is extensively used in the West for furniture and 

 in carpentry. 



The Sycamore Maple, Acer Pseudo-Plataniis Linnaeus, attaining a height of 24 meters, a 

 rapid growing shade tree introduced from Europe, is a beautiful tree, occasionally spontaneous, 

 especially about our eastern cities. Its 5- to 7-lobed leaves are coarsely round- or blunt-toothed, 

 shallowly heart-shaped at the base, 8 to 15 cm. broad, dark green and smooth above, pale, glau- 

 cous and hairy on the broad veins beneath. The flowers appear in June in many-flowered, 

 pendulous racemes. Its fruit is large and smooth. 



4. VINE MAPLE Acer circinatum Pursh 



The common name Vine maple refers to the traihng or half-cHmbing habit 

 of this interesting tree, which grows naturally along streams and lakes, often 

 formmg almost impenetrable thickets, from British Columbia to northern Cali- 

 fornia, mainly near the coast. It is often 

 shrubby in habit, but sometimes forms 

 trunks 12 to 15 meters long and i dm. thick. 

 It is known also as Mountain maple. 



Its bark is reddish brown, thin and 

 nearly smooth. The young twigs are 

 smooth, green to red-brown, sometimes 

 covered with bloom. The petioles of the 

 leaves are shorter than the blades; the 

 leaves are quite silky-hairy when young, 

 but are smooth at maturity, except for a 

 few long silky hairs at the base of the 

 blade on the under side; the blades are 

 Fig. 591. Vine Maple. orbicular in outline, or somewhat wider 



than long, thin, bright green on both surfaces, but a little paler beneath than 

 above, 5 to 15 cm. across, or those of young shoots larger, cordate or sometimes 

 nearly truncate at the base, digitately 5-lobed to 9-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, 

 sharp-pointed, and sharply toothed. The sterile and fertile flowers are borne 

 together in nodding cor>'mbs at the ends of the twigs, and open from April to June, 

 while the leaves are still young; the oblong pointed red or purple sepals are pro- 

 vided with long silky hairs; the hooded greenish petals are much shorter than the 



