Narrow Fruited Maple 



647 



coarsely toothed. The red, scarlet or rarely yellow flowers appear in dense clus- 

 ters before the leaves at the axils of leaves of the preceding season, some of the 

 clusters composed of staminate and some of 

 pistillate flowers, either on the same or on 

 different trees; the flowers are stalked, and the 

 stalks of the pistillate ones greatly elongate as 

 the fruit matures; the sepals are oblong, blunt, 

 wavy-margined or nearly entire, and about as 

 long as the similar narrower petals ; the stami- 

 nate flowers have from 3 to 8 stamens with 

 filaments two or three times as long as the se- 

 pals; the pistillate flowers have a smooth ovary 

 and 2 long styles, which are united at the 

 base, and stamens shorter than the sepals. 

 The red or scarlet samaras vary from 2 to 3.5 

 cm. long and from 6 to 10 mm. wide, the wing 

 broadest at or above the middle, the seed- 

 bearing part sHghtly striate and about 6 mm. 



long. 



Fig. 597. Red Maple. 



The tree is of rapid growth, and is a great 

 favorite for road and park planting, but is not usually adapted to city streets; it 

 is little attacked by either insects or fungi. The foliage turns red or scarlet in late 

 autumn and contributes much to the autumn coloration of the forest of eastern 

 North America. The wood is hght brown or reddish brown, not strong, with a 



specific gravity of about 0.62, and is largely 

 used for furniture and wooden- ware. Among 

 local common names for this tree are Swamp 

 maple. Shoe-peg maple. Soft maple. Scarlet 

 maple. Water maple, and ^Vhite maple. 



10. NARROW FRUITED MAPLE 

 Acer stenocarpum Britton, new species 



This name is given to small trees grow- 

 ing in flinty soil at Allenton, St. Louis county, 

 Missouri, from which specimens were col- 

 lected by Mr. G. W. Lettcrman in 1884, in- 

 asmuch as the fruit seems to be quite differ- 

 ent from that of any forms of the Red maple. 

 Fig. 598. - Narrow Fruited Maple. ^j^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^.^.^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ 



maple, thin, 3-lobed or 5-lobed, light green above and pale beneath. The red 

 flowers appear before the leaves. The samara are borne on exceeding slender 

 stalks, 5 to 7 cm. long; they are almost hnear, not widened above, about 2 cm. long. 



