Botany. 259 
The family of maples is distinguished from other plants, 
by the fruit, which consists of two peculiar seed-vessels, 
united at their base, each dilated into a membranous wing 
above, which serves to suspend it awhile in the air as it 
falls. 
1. The Suear Marte, (Acer saccharinum, Linn.) called 
also rock maple, has leaves five-parted, and yellowish green 
flowers on flower-stalks. It is one of the largest and lofti- 
est trees in our forests. Its trunk is usually straight and en- 
tire to the height of from 40 to 80 feet, where it suddenly 
unfolds into a dense top, crowded with rich foliage. The 
bark of the older trees is of a grey colour, and marked with 
numerous deep clefts. The wood is firm and heavy, though 
not durable. It is used for various work by carpenters and 
cabinet makers. Micheaux says, that it grows in its greatest 
perfection, between the 43d and 46th degrees of North lat- 
itude, and of course, in the northern part of our States, and 
in Canada. 
The River Marie (Acer eriocarpum of Linneus,) called 
also White maple,* and by Eaton Silver maple, is distin- 
guished by having its leaves five-parted, and white beneath; 
its flowers reddish yellow, without flower-stalks, and with 
woolly germe. ‘The trunk frequently divides near the 
ground, so as to appear like several trunks close together. 
These divisions diverge a little as they rise, and often at the 
height of from eight to twenty feet the top commences. It 
is generally larger in proportion to the trunk, than the top 
of any other tree. The bark has its clefts more distant than 
in the sugar maple, and is more inclined to*scale off. It 
blossoms earlier than the sugar maple. ‘The fruit is larger 
than that of other species, it advances with great rapidi- 
ty towards perfection, ripens and falls in June, and produces 
a plantule the same season, sufficiently hardy to withstand 
tne succeeding winter. ‘The fruit of the sugar maple docs 
not ripen until October. The river maple is principally 
found on the banks of rivers, and on the banks of such only 
as have a clean gravelly bottom, and clear water. It is most 
luxuriant, on such flats as are subject to annual! inundations, 
and is usually the first settler on such flats as are making in- 
* Micheaux says, that in the Atlantic States, this species is confounded 
with the common red maple, but in the Western States, i¢ is generally dis 
finguished and known by the name of White Maple. 
