MAPLE FAMILY 



side by side, one may have large, thin, five-lobed leaves, and 

 the other small, thick, three-lobed leaves, or both forms may 

 be found on different parts of the same 

 tree, and sometimes even on the same 

 branch. 



The flowers appear very early, only 

 those of the silver maple precede them. 

 Perfect flowers occasionally occur, but 

 generally the staminate and pistillate 

 flowers are produced on separate trees, 

 although a branch with staminate flow- 

 ers can be found on a tree on which the 

 flowers are pistillate, and individual pistil- 

 late clusters on a staminate branch. If 

 the tree is very red, one may be certain 

 Key of Red Maple, -^cer that the flowcrs are pistillate, but if yel- 



nibnuii. 1-11 



lowish they are stammate. 

 All the maples show what is called the curled and bird's-eye 

 varieties. These are an accidental and fortuitous arrange- 

 ment of the woody fibre, and as there is no marked outward 

 indication of these varieties, only experienced woodsmen can 

 detect them in the living tree, which they do from some slight 

 peculiarities of the bark. It is said that these forms are 

 found only in old trees. Such lumber is now very valuable 

 for the interior furnishings of rooms, railway-cars, and steam- 

 ship saloons. How many such trees were destroyed in the early 

 days through ignorance or indifference no one knows. I re- 

 call a country home where the kitchen-stove was fed one 

 entire winter with the most beautiful curled and bird's-eye ma- 

 ple, carefully cut into cordwood eighteen inches in length. 

 Of course the owner knew nothing of the existence of these 

 trees until they confronted him in his woodpile, and his anger 

 and dismay may be imagined as he bewailed the stupidity of 

 his workmen. 



80 



