652 



The Maples 



This interesting tree differs from the others of the Sugar maple group in growing 

 in wet soil, they being upland species. 



1 6. WHITE-BARKED SUGAR MAPLE Acer leucoderme Small 



This, the smallest of the eastern Sugar maples, inhabits rocky river-banks and 

 ravines from North Carohna and Georgia westward to Arkansas and Louisiana. 

 It is not known to become more than 13 meters high, nor to form a trunk more 

 than 0.5 meters in thickness, and is often a mere shrub. 



The bark of old trunks is smooth and white, or brown and ridged at the base 



of the tree ; that of the branches is 

 gray or reddish. The young twigs 

 are smooth and green, but soon 

 become red-brown and shining. 

 The leaves are usuallv broader 

 than long, but sometimes nearly 

 orbicular in outhne, 5 to 10 cm. 

 across, 3-lobed to 5-lobed, dark 

 green and smooth above, Hghter 

 green and hairy beneath, even 

 when old, truncate to cord-ate at 

 the base, the pointed lobes with 

 one or more large teeth, or wavy- 

 margined. The flowers resemble 

 those of the Florida sugar maple, 

 being smaller than those of the 

 Sugar maple of the North, and 

 appear with the leaves on filiform 

 smooth drooping pedicels; the ca- 



FiG. 604. White-barked Sugar Maple. 



lyx is undulately 5-lobed; the ovary and young fruit are hairy, the ripe samaras 

 are red, i to 2 cm. long, smooth, the parallel or divergent wings 5 to 8 mm. wide. 

 The tree has been planted for shade in some southern cities; it is probably not 

 hardy north of Virginia. 



17. MOUNTAIN SUGAR MAPLE - Acer grandidentatum Nuttall 



A species of the Rocky mountain region, this tree ranges from northern ISIon- 

 tana to eastern Utah, Wyoming, western Texas, and New Mexico, extending 

 southward into Mexico. It sometimes reaches a height of 13 meters, with a trunk 

 2.5 dm. in diameter. It prefers the sides of canons and banks of streams. 



The bark of old trunks is dark bro\^^l and scaly, that of young trees lighter 

 brown. The smooth green young twigs soon turn brown. The rather stout- 

 petioled leaves are usually wider than long, 5 to 9 cm. wide, 3-lobed with coarsely 



