ACERACE^— MAPLE FAMILY 



STRIPED MAPLE. MOOSEWOOD 



Acer pc-nnsyh'diiUnm. 



A small tree, thirty or forty feet high, with short trunk, slender 

 upright branches ; often much smaller and scrubby. Loves the 

 shade and forms much of the undergrowth of the forests of New 

 England and lower Canada. Roots fibrous. 



Bark. — Reddish brown, marked longitudinally with broad pale 

 stripes, and roughened with numerous, horizontal, oblong excres- 

 cences. The branchlets arc pale greenish yellow; later, reddish 

 brown and finally striped like the trunk. 



Winter Buds. — Red. The terminal bud when it contains an in- 

 florescence is half an inch long. Axillary buds much shorter. 

 Scales enlarge when spring growth begins ; the inner scales be- 

 come an inch and a half to two inches long, changing to yellow or 

 rose before they fall. 



Wood. — Pale brown, sapwood still paler; light, soft, close- 

 grained. Sp. gr., 0.5299; weight of cu. ft., 33.02 lbs. 



Leaves. — Opposite, simple, five to six inches long, palmately 

 three-nerved, rounded or cordate at the base, doubly serrate, three- 

 lobed at the apex, the short lobes contracted into tapering serrate 

 points. They come out of the bud thin, pale rose color, and 

 downy ; when full grown are smooth, except some russet hairs at the 

 axils of the nerves, bright green above, paler beneath. In autumn 

 they turn a clear bright yellow. Petiole long, grooved, with en- 

 larged base. 



Flowers. — May, when leaves are nearly grown, polygamo-monoe- 

 cious, yellow, liorne in slender, drooping, long-stemmed racemes ; 

 staminate and pistillate flowers usually in different racemes. Ped- 

 icels thread-like. 



Calyx. — Five-parted, lobes linear or obovate. Disk annular. 



Corolla. — Petals five, inserted on the base of the disk, obovate, as 

 long as the sepals, bright yellow, imbricate in bud. 



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