DECIDUOUS TREES. 347 



The Spike-flowered or Mountain Maple, Acer spkatum, is 

 another dwarf American species, native of tiie Allegliany Mountains, 

 and valued in England for its autumn beauty, caused by the rose- 

 color of its large pendulous spikes of winged seeds. Height fifteen 

 to thirty feet. Growth rapid when young. 



The Sycamore Maple. Acerpseudo platanus. — A large, hand- 

 some tree, native of Europe, of more rapid upright growth than 

 our sugar maple. The bark of its young wood is ash-colored and 

 remarkably smooth. The foliage has the same cleanly luxuriance 

 ■that distinguishes our sugar maple, and the leaves are a little 

 larger. In England it becomes a tree of the largest size in sixty 

 or seventy years, and its trunk attains a great size in propor- 

 tion to its age. There are specimens there nearly a hundred feet 

 high, and six to nine feet diameter of trunk. We do not know of 

 any great trees of it in this country. Loudon says that it will 

 grow on exposed situations, and especially on the seacoast, and 

 maintain its erect position against the sea-breeze better than most 

 other trees, and that it is especially adapted to plant around houses 

 located on bleak hills, as it rarely shows any one-sidedness of 

 growth in consequence of the action of the winds. The four fol- 

 lowing varieties of the sycamore maple are all valuable : 



The Guelder-rose-leaved Maple, A. p. opulifolium, is a 

 smaller, globular, dense-leaved variety, native of the mountains of 

 France and Spain. A small tree. 



The Purple-leaved Maple. A. p. purpurea. — The leaves 

 are purplish beneath, and the stalks of a bright dark-red. The 

 foliage is vigorous and healthy. " The tree has a very fine appear- 

 ance when the leaves are slightly ruffled by the wind, alternately 

 appearing clothed in purple and pale green. In spring, when the 

 leaves first expand, the purple bloom is not obvious ; but when 

 they become matured it is very distinct " {Arboretum Britannicum). 

 A large tree, every way desirable. 



The White Variegated-leaved Maple. A. p. alba varie- 

 gata. — ^The silver-striped leaved of some nurseries. This is con- 

 sidered the most ornamental of all the variegated-leaved maples, 

 especially in the spring when the leaves first expand. Small sped- 



