654 



The Maples 



faces or a little paler beneath than above, and vary from 5 to 13 cm. in length. 

 The clustered flowers are without petals and borne on the twigs of the past sea- 

 son, at the scars of last year's leaves, and appear with the new leaves or a Httle 

 before them, the staminate and pistillate flowers on different trees; the staminate 

 ones are on hair\' drooping pedicels, have a 5-lobed calyx and about 5 stamens 

 with long-pointed anthers much projecting beyond it; the pistillate flowers are in 

 smooth or hairy drooping racemes, which greatly elongate as the fruit matures, 

 have 5 Hnear-oblong sepals, a slightly hairy ovary, 2 slender styles and no stamens. 

 The samaras are smooth or a little hairy, divergent at various angles, 2 to 4 cm. 

 long, the wings i cm. wide or less, the oblong ridged seed-bearing part i to 1.5 

 cm. long, the united portion constricted near the base, a feature which distinguishes 

 this eastern tree from the western species of Ash-leaved maples. 



The wood is white, soft and weak, with a specific gravity of about 0.43, and 

 is used to some extent for furniture, wooden ware, and in carpentry; some maple 

 sugar is locally made from the sap. The tree is of rapid growth, and very exten- 

 sively used in planting along roads and in parks. A very large number of garden 

 forms have been developed from seeds in European nurseries. Among common 

 names for the tree are Three-leaved maple. Black ash, and Sugar ash. A Texan 

 form is more hsLiry and has been described as a distinct species {Acer texanum 

 Pax). 



The Ash-leaved maples differ from the typical maples in their compound 



leaves, and are often regarded as form- 

 ing a separate genus {Rulac Adanson ; 

 Negundo Moench). 



19. CALIFORNIA ASH-LEAVED 

 ' MAPLE 



Acer californicum (Torrey and Gray) 

 Dietrich 



Negundo calijornicum Torrey and Gray 



The California Ash-leaved maple 

 has been regarded by some authors 

 as a variety of the eastern tree, but it 

 seems to us better to consider it as 

 a distinct species. It is, so far as 

 known, restricted to CaHfomia, occur- 

 ring along streams and in canons. It 

 sometimes attains a height of 16 me- 

 ters and a trunk diameter of nearly i meter. 



The young twdgs are finely velvety, green, turning gray. The leaves usually 

 have 3 leaflets, though there are sometimes 5; these are ovate or ovate-lanceolate 



Fig. 607. California Ash-leaved Maple. 



