THE IVIAPLES 197 



of this silver maple, is often seen as a lawn tree, imitating 

 the habit of the weeping willow. 



The Oregon Maple 



A. macrophylhwi, Pursh. 



The Oregon maple grows from southern Alaska to Lower 

 California, along the banks of streams. The great leaves, 

 often a foot in diameter, on blades of equal length, are the 

 distinguishing marks of this stout-limbed tree, that grows 

 in favorable soil to a height of a hundred feet. In southern 

 Oregon it forms pure forest, its huge limbs forming mag- 

 nificent, interlacing arches that shut out the sun and make 

 a wonderful cover for ferns and mosses far below. The 

 wood of this tree is the best hard-wood lumber on the 

 West Coast. 



The Vine Maple 



A. circinatum, Pursh. 



The vine maple reminds one of the hanas of tropical 

 woods, for it has not sufficient stiffness to stand erect. 

 It grows in the bottom lands and up the mountain sides, 

 but always following water-courses, from British Columbia 

 to northern CaKfornia. Its vine-Hke stems spring up in 

 clusters from the ground, spreading in wide curves, and 

 these send out long, slender twigs which root when they 

 touch the ground, thus forming impenetrable thickets, 

 often many acres in extent. 



The leaf is almost circular and cut into narrow equal 

 lobes around the margin; green in midsummer, it changes 

 to red and gold in autumn, and the woodsman, almost 



