250 



the oak, ash and hickory. When compared with white oak it is a little 

 lighter but thirty per cent stronger and fifty-three per cent stiffer. 

 The greatest amount of the annual cut of maple is worked into flooring 

 which is shipped to all parts of the world. It ]s much used in the 

 manufacture of furniture and ranks third in use for veneer and hard 

 wood distillation, and as a fuel wood is excelled only by hickory. Since, 

 pioneer times the sap of this tree has been made into sirup and sugar 

 and their manufacture now forms a valuable industry. On an average 

 it takes 3 to 4 gallons of sap to make a pound of sugar, and an average 

 sized tree will annually yield about 3 to 4 pounds of sugar. 



The sugar maple on account of its slow growth has not been used much 

 in reforestation. It is very tolerant of shade, can adapt itself to almost 

 all kinds of soils, thrives either in a pure or mixed stand, and is prac- 

 tically free from injury of insects and diseases. It has, however, been 

 extensively used as a shade tree. For this purpose it is scarcely ex- 

 celled by any other tree. When grown in the open it almost invariably 

 ass'umes a symmetrical oval form, and the autumnal coloration of its 

 foliage is rarely surpassed by any of our trees. Where a large tree is 

 desired for street or ornamental planting the sugar maple can safely be 

 recommended. 



5a. Acer saccharum variety Rugelii (Pax) Rehder. This variety 

 of the sugar maple has leaves much wider than long, smaller and 3- 

 lobed. The lobes are long acuminate and usually entire, sometimes the 

 lower lobe has a small lobe near the base. This variety is included in our 

 flora on the authority of C. S. Sargent who has given this name to 

 specimens from Indiana in the writer's herbarium. The specimens so 

 named are from the southern part of the State. While there is a wide 

 range of difference in the shape of the leaves of the typical 5-lobed 

 Acer saccharum and its variety Rugelii, all intermediate forms can be 

 easily found. The leaves of a tree will vary most on those trees whose 

 average shaped leaves are farthest from the typical form. 



5b. Acer saccharum variety Schneckii Rehder. This variety in 

 its extreme form is well marked by having the petioles and under surface 

 of the leaves densely covered with hairs. The variety is characterized 

 by having a "fulvous pubescence," but the 18 specimens at hand show 

 the color of the pubescence on both young and mature specimens to 

 range from white to fulvous. The leaves of all specimens at hand are 

 5-lobed and show a variation of leaves with petioles and under surface of 

 leaves densely pubescent to those with petioles glabrous and with densely 

 pubescent under surface. The habitat is that of a dry soil and asso- 

 ciated with beech. It has been found in Gibson, Martin, Perry, Posey 

 and Vanderburgh counties. 



