82 



ELEMENTARY WOODWORKING 



39. Maple Keys. The fruit, or seeds, of all the maples 

 are known as winged. The flat, thin part gives the 

 seed a swirling motion as it drops from the tree. This 

 is the way nature has of spreading the seed over a 

 large area so that more trees may be started in life. 

 Many tree seeds are winged, but the maple seed or 

 key is so large and so common that every one must 

 at some time have noticed it. 



40. The Ash-Leaved Maple. The 

 ash-leaved maple is a leaf very com- 

 mon in our parks. It has no resem- 

 blance to other maple leaves, yet it 

 bears the unmistakable maple key, 

 — "By their fruits ye shall know 

 them." It is therefore a maple. 



The box elder, or ash-leaved maple, 

 is interesting because it is our only 

 maple having a compound leaf ; that 

 is, a leaf stem with several distinct leaflets. Compound 

 leaves are very common (notice the hickory leaf and the 

 horse-chestnut), but not on maples, and our ash-leaved 

 maple is a curiosity. It delights in swampy places, but 

 grows almost anywhere. It is a small tree, and its wood 

 is not especially valuable except for making paper pulp. 

 North America has only nine varieties of maple, while 

 China and Japan have more than thirty. Indeed, it is 



Fig. 94. Maple "Keys," 

 a Common Form of 

 Winged Seeds 



