406 CLASS XXIII. ORDER II. 



bsscent, and at length glancons nnderneath, the si- 

 nuses acute; fertile flowers aggregate, with rather 

 long stalks. Mich. 



This maple grows plentifully in our swamps and low woods. 

 The flowers appear in April and May, each bud producing a fas- 

 cicle or sessile umbel of about five crimson flowers. In the 

 barren flowers the calyx is about five parted, with oval segments. 

 Petals five, narrower and inflected. Stamens twice as long as 

 the calyx. Perfect flowers on separate trees, later and smaller, 

 the stamens included ; styles two, exserted, recurved, pubescent. 

 Germs compressed, united, succeeded by a red fruit, known by 

 the name of maple keys, consisting of a pair of small capsules, 

 each terminated by a long, membranous appendage, resembling 

 the wing of an insect. The leaves are opposite, rounded, or 

 hearted at base, and divided into three or five principal lobes, 

 separated by a large, acute notch. They are irregularly toothed, 

 and glaucous underneath. 



The wood of this species is close grained, smooth and hard- 

 It is much used in the manufacture of tables, chairs, and other 

 kinds of furniture. A variety, denominated Curled Maple, oc- 

 casioned by the serpentine course of the fibres in some old trees, 

 has a beautiful, shaded appearance in cabinet work, and is also 

 used for gun-stocks, on account of its solidity and toughness. 



Acer saccharinum. L. Rock Maple. Sugai' Maple. 

 lieaves five parted-palmate, glabrous, entire at the 

 margin, glaucous underneath ,• flowers pedunculated, 

 pendant. Mich. f. 



The Rock Maple, though common in the interior, is rarely 

 met Aviih in the vicinity of Boston. Some young trees occur in 

 the woods at Roxbury. The flowers of this species are yellow- 

 ish, small, and supported by slender, drooping footstalks. The 

 fruit is larger than in the Red Maple, and of a light greenish 

 color. The leaves have three or five principal lobes, separated 

 by a sinus or notch, which is rounded, not angular, at bottom. 

 They are pale, and sometimes downy on the under side. 



The wood is hard, compact, and smooth. It is much used in 



