THE DECIDUOUS WOODS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.* 



By J. R. Anderson. 



Broad-leaved Maple — Acer macro phy Hum. — This tree is 

 so named on account of the extraordinary size of its leaves, one 

 authenticated specimen which I collected measured 16^ inches 

 from the point at which the stem joins the leaf, to the tip of the 

 leaf, and 12^ inches across. The flowers come early, before the 

 leaves, and are of a yellowish white in crowded pendant racemes. 

 The leaves turn a golden yellow in the autumn. This is probably 

 the commonest and best of this class of our woods. Its range 

 is all over the lower lands of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands 

 and the mainland to the westward of the coast range. It grows 

 to a large size, the trunks frequently attaining a diameter of 

 three and four feet, and when growing close together, or with 

 other trees, very straight and tall. When growing singly in 

 the open it forms a magnificent shade tree, one remarkable 

 specimen near Victoria, covering a space of probably eighty feet 

 in diameter. Other specimens at Alberni, by actual measure- 

 ment, cover spaces of sixty feet and over. The wood is close 

 grained, takes a fine polish and is well adapted for furniture, 

 inside finishing and carriage building. That part, which, by 

 reason of an abnormal growth, is known as "Bird's Eye Maple," 

 is very beautiful. Although utilized by furniture makers, and in 

 some cases for inside work, it is comparatively little used and is 

 onlv cut by one or two mills to supply the demand. The natives, 

 where this wood occurred, used it to a considerable extent for 

 paddles, and for some articles of domestic purposes. 



The Smooth Maple. — A smaller tree which is sometimes 

 erroneously called Vine Maple, is Acer glabrum, with two other 

 svnonyms. On Vancouver Island and the lower mainland it 

 sometimes attains to the dignity of a tree. The leaf is five- 

 pointed, flowers few, on the coast, but plentiful inland, where it 

 never attains a size larger than a large bush. I may say that 

 according to my recent investigations, I feel a doubt as to the 

 identity of the inland tree with that of the coast. The wood of 

 this variety is white and close grained, but it has never to my 

 knowledge been put to any practical use; this, however, may be 

 accounted for by the fact that it does not occur in any great 

 quantities. This maple is very ornamental, and makes a fine 



*Part of a paper read at a meeting of the Natural History 

 Society, Victoria, B.C., 14th May, 1906. 



