ACERACE^E 689 



ulous outer scales, and inner scales becoming 1 \' long, narrow-obovate, short-pointed at apex, 

 thin, pubescent, and bright canary yellow. Bark of young stems and of large branches 

 pale, smooth or slightly fissured, becoming on large trunks '-f thick and broken into 

 deep longitudinal furrows, the light gray-brown surface separating into small plate-like 

 scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough, light brown tinged with red, with 

 thin sapwood of 30-40 layers of annual growth; largely used for the interior finish of build- 

 ings, especially for floors, in the manufacture of furniture, in turnery, shipbuilding, for 

 shoe-lasts and pegs, and largely as fuel. Accidental forms with the grain curled and con- 

 torted, known as curly maple and bird's-eye maple, are common and are highly prized in 

 cabinet-making. The ashes of the wood are rich in alkali and yield large quantities of 

 potash. Maple sugar is principally made from the sap of this tree. 



Distribution. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, westward to the Lake of the Woods, 

 Ontario, and southward through eastern Canada and the northern states, and along the 

 Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia; in central Alabama and Mississippi, and 



Fig. 620 



westward in the United States to Minnesota, northeastern South Dakota (coulees of Little 

 Minnesota River, Roberts County), central and northwestern Iowa, eastern Kansas, 

 central Oklahoma, and eastern Louisiana; most abundant northward; ascending in North 

 Carolina the Alleghany Mountains to altitudes of 3000; the var. glabrum rare and local 

 in the north from Prince Edwards Island and Lake St. John, Quebec, to Iowa and south- 

 ward to Pennsylvania, Ohio and central Tennessee; more abundant southward; apparently 

 the only form but not common in South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and 

 southern Arkansas; the var. fjjchneckii with leaves glaucous or glaucescent below and more 

 or less densely pubescent with spreading hairs, on the under side of the midrib and veins 

 and on the petioles, southern Indiana and Illinois to western Kentucky and western and 

 middle Tennessee, northwestern Georgia (near Rome, Floyd County), and to eastern 

 Missouri southward to Williamsville, Wayne County. 



Commonly planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the northern states. 



More distinct are the following varieties: 



Acer saccharum var. Rugelii Rehd. 



Leaves thick, 3'-5' long and 4'-6' wide, pale and glabrous below, 3-lobed by broad 

 rounded sinuses, rounded or slightly cordate at base, the lobes long-acuminate, usually en- 

 tire, the middle lobe occasionally slightly undulate, the lateral lobes spreading, sometimes 

 furnished near the base with a short acute lobule. 



