84 SAPINDACEJE. (SOAPBEBKT FAMILY.) 



SuBOKBER in. ACEBINE^. The Maple Family. 



3. AC£B, Toum. Maple. 



Plowers polygamous. Calyx colored, 5- (rarely 4 - 12-) lobed or parted. Pet- 

 als either none, or as many as the lobes of the calyx, equal, with short claws 

 if any, inserted on the margin of the lobed disk, which is eitlicr perigynous or 

 'lypogyious. Stamens 4-12. Ovary 2-celled, witli a pair of ovules in each: 

 styles 2, long and slender, united only below, stigmatic down the inside. Prom 

 the back of each ovary grows a wing, converting the fniit into two 1 -seeded, at 

 leng-tli separable, closed samaras or keys. Seed without albumen. Embryo 

 variously coiled or folded, with large and thin cotyledons. — Trees, or some- 

 times shrabs, with opposite palmately-lobed leaves, and small flowers. Pedi- 

 cels not jointed. (The classical name, from the Celtic ac, hard.) 

 # Flowers in terminal racemes, greenish, appearing after the haves : stamens 6-8. 



1. A. Peniisylvanicnin, L. (Striped Maple.) Leaves 3-lobed 

 at the apex, finely and sharply doubly sen-ate ; the short lobes taper-pointed, 

 and also sen-ate ; racemes drooping, loose ; petals obovate ; fruit with large diverg- 

 ing wings. (A. striatum, Lam.)- — ^Rich woods, Maine to Wisconsin, and north- 

 ward along the AUeghanies to Virginia and Kentucky. June. — A small and 

 slender tree, with light-green bark striped with dark lines, and greenish flowers 

 and fruit. Also called Striped Dogwood, and Moose- Wood. 



2. A. Spicatum, Lam. (Mountain Maple.) Leaves downy under- 

 neath, 3- (or slightly 5-) lobed, coarsely serrate, the lobes taper-pointed ; racemes 

 uptight, dense, somewhat compound ; petals linear-spatulate ; frait with small very 

 divergent wings. (A. montinum, Aif.) — Moist woods, with the same range 

 as No. 1. June. — A tall shrub, forming clumps. 



* * Flowers umheUate-corymhed, greenish-yeUow, appearing with the leaves. 



3. A. saccIiarlnuHl, Wang. (Sugar Maple. Rock Maple.) 

 Leaves 3 - 5-lobed, with rounded sinuses and pointed sparingly sinuate-toothed 

 lobes, either heart-shaped or nearly trancate at the base, whitish and smooth or 

 a little downy along the veins beneath ; flowers from terminal leaf-bearing and 

 lateral leafless buds, drooping on very slender hairy pedicels ; calyx hau-y at the 

 apex ; petals none ; wings of the fi-uit broad, slightly diverging. — Rich woods, 

 especially northward and along the mountains southwai'd. April, May. — A 

 large, handsome tree. 



Var. nig-rum. (Black Sugar-Maple.) Leaves scarcely paler beneath, 

 but often minutely downy, the lobes wider, the sinus at the base often closed. 

 (A. nigrum, Michx.) — With the ordinai-y form. 



* * * Flowers in umbd-like clusters arising from lateral leafless buds, preceding the 

 leaves; stamens 3-6. 



4. A. dasycfirpum, Bhrhart. (White or Silver Maple.) Leaves 

 very deeply b-lobed with the sinuses rather acute, silvery-white (and when young 

 downy) underneath, the divisions nartow, cut^lobed and toothed ; flowers 

 (greenish-yellow) on short pedicels ; petals none ; fruit woolly when young, with 

 largo divergent wings. — River-banks, most common southward and westward. 

 March, April. — A fine ornamental tree. 



