408 TREES IN WINTER 



NORWAY MAPLE 



Acer platanoides L. 



HABIT — A mediumly large tree reaching in Europe 100 ft, in height, 

 with round spreading head, 



BARK — Dark, broken into firm, close, narrow ridges which run 

 together and enclose small diamond-shaped spaces, somewhat resembling 

 bark of White Ash but the ridges and diamond-shaped spaces are finer. 



TWIGS — Stout, generally smooth and shining, brown to greenish or 

 yellowish-brown, branchlets of two or more years growth and even 

 vigorous season's shoots plainly streaked with fine, irregular, longitu- 

 dinal cracks in bark. 



LiEAF-SCARS — Opposite, narrow V-shaped, half encircling the twig, 

 the adjacent edges of opposite leaf-scars meeting and continued upward 

 into a short tooth. BUNDLE-SCARS — 3. 



BUDS — Completely red or yellowish-green toward the base, sometimes 

 whole bud strongly tinged with yellowish-green; terminal bud larger 

 than lateral buds, 5-S mm. long, more than % as broad as long, 

 oval to ovate; generally with a pair of comparatively large lateral buds 

 below terminal bud; lateral buds small, appressed. BUD-SCALES — 

 thick, more or less keeled, margin very finely hairy; scales to terminal 

 bud generally 5 pairs — only 2, or at most 3 pairs showing, smooth but 

 enclosing 2 pairs which are thickly covered with dark rusty-brown 

 hairs; in small buds sometimes 4 pairs smooth and 1 pair hairy, 



FRUIT — Generally over 5 cm. long, seed-like portion flattish, with 

 wings diverging in a straight line. 



COMPARISONS— The Norway Maple is easily distinguished from the 

 Sycamore Maple by the redness of its buds, the brown hairiness of the 

 inner scales, the ridging of the bark and the divergence of the wings 

 of the fruit;. from the native Maples by the large buds and the character- 

 istically ridged bark. 



DISTRIBUTION — A European form extensively cultivated as a shade 

 tree being more tolerant of unfavorable city conditions than most 

 other forms. Its low head, however, is a disadvantage for city street 

 planting. 



WOOD — Moderately heavy, hard, close-grained, white or yellowish- 

 white, fairly durable under cover but of short duration in the open; used 

 in Europe by joiners, for finer wheelwrights' work, for carving, for 

 mathematical instruments and for various other purposes. 



