State Board of Forestry. 303 



Winter buds blunt, exposed scales 6-8, reddish, tomen- 

 tose ciliate; flowers appearing before the leaves. 

 Sides of the V-shaped notches of the leaves straight, 

 lobes of the leaves usually 3; flowers with petals, 



on pedicels; young fruit glabrous 2 A. rubruni. 



Sides of the V-shaped notches of the leaves concave, 

 lobes of the leaves usually 5; flowers without pet- 

 als, sub-sessile; young fruit tomentose 3 A. saccharinum. 



Winter buds acute, exposed scales 8-16, usually 12-16, 

 brown to nearly black, usually with a silky pub- 

 escence; flowers appear after the leaves. 

 Bark usually gray; leaves whitish or glaucous be- 

 neath, glabrous at maturity, appendages at the 



base of the petioles wanting 4 A. saccharum. 



Bark dark brown to nearly black; leaves green be- 

 neath, pubescent at least on the veins beneath 

 at maturity, and with two appendages at the 

 base of the petioles 5 A. nigrum. 



1. Acer Negundo Linnaeus. Box Elder. Plate 109. Bark on 

 young trees gray and smooth, on old trees thick, light to dark brown 

 and deeply fissured, very much resembling the bark of Fraxinus 

 pennsylvanica; twigs smooth, light green, sometimes purplish and 

 glaucous; leaves usually with 3 leaflets, sometimes with 5, leaflets 

 thin, varying from ovate to oval or obovate, acute at the apex, 

 rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, margin entire, coarsely ser- 

 rate or rarely 3-lobed, pubescent on both sides when young, becom- 

 ing smooth or nearly so at maturity, 5-10 cm. (2-4 inches) long; 

 flowers appear with the leaves in clusters borne on the twigs of the 

 past season, the staminate and pistillate in different clusters on 

 different trees or sometimes on the same tree, flowering period 

 April, May or June; fruit ripens in early summer, the samaras 

 smooth or slightly pubescent, 2-4 cm. (M-1/^ inches) long. 



Distribution. Western Vermont south to Florida and west to 

 the Rocky Mountains. Rare east of the Appalachian Mountains. 

 Rare to infrequent in northern Indiana, increasing in numbers in 

 the southern counties where it is sometimes frequent, or sometimes 

 common along streams. It is generally found near streams, lakes 

 and swamps. It is usually a medium sized tree, attaining its 

 greatest size in the southwestern counties. 



The pubHshed records of the distribution are as follows: Car- 

 roll (Thompson) ; Cass (Hessler) ; Clark (Baird and Taylor) ; Daviess 

 (Clements); Dearborn (Collins); Delaware (Phinney); Fountain 

 (Brown); Franklin (Meyncke); Gibson (Schneck); Hamilton (Wil- 

 son); Jay (M'Caslin); JefTerson (Barnes), (Coulter) and (Young); 



[20—28415] 



