The Maples. 239 



inches. It seldom grows alone in much abundance, but is scattered 

 through the evergreen forests, and seldom growing to as large a size 

 as the sugar maple. 



949. It occurs in mountain ravines from Santa Barbara north- 

 ward to British Columbia, where it is found on Vancouver and ad- 

 jacent islands, and on the immediate coast of the mainland, never 

 inland, and scarcely beyond 55° north latitude. It there forms a 

 small tree, sometimes a foot iu diameter. In California it chiefly 

 occurs on the Coast Eange. The young branches present green 

 stripes, not unlike those characteristic of the striped maple of the 

 Atlantic States. 



950. The wood is close-grained, hard, takes a beautiful polish, 

 and the grain is sometimes twisted and curled, giving it a highly 

 ornamental appearance. 



951. The Vine Maple {Acer drcinatum). This is also peculiar 

 to the Pacific Coast, growing in pine forests from Northern California 

 to Oregon, and always near the coast. It is a shrub, growing some- 

 times 30 to 40 feet in height, and rarely a foot in diameter, and 

 usually in several slender trunks springing from one root, as in the 

 mountain maple of the Atlantic States. These do not grow up- 

 right, but, arching down, touch the ground, and there taking root, 

 present a tangled thicket most diflBcult to penetrate. It prefers 

 moist deep soils. Its leaves much resemble those of the sugar 

 maple, and its wood is very tough and strong, heavy, white, close- 

 grained, and sometimes twisted iu its grain. It is used in making 

 axe-helves and tool-handles, but is generally too small for cabinet 

 work, although otherwise well adapted to this use. 



952. The Smooth Maple (Acer glahrum). This is an unim- 

 portant shrub, found from Colorado and New Mexico eastward to 

 California, and from Yosemite northward. It is too small for use- 

 ful purposes, and grows chiefly in damp mountain ravines. 



953. The Box-Eldee, or Ash-leaved Maple (Negundo acer- 

 oides). There are four species of the Negundo, of which the At-I 

 lantic States, the Pacific Coast, Mexico and Japan, have each one. 

 It is so nearly allied to the maples that it has, by some botanists, 

 been classed with them as the Acer negundo. 



954. The box-elder, in the Atlantic States, is somewhat southern 

 in its habits. In North Carolina it is found most common in the 

 middle portion of the state, along the borders of the streams, grow- 



