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, 
Fie. 94. Maple ‘‘ Keys,” | , : be 
a Common Form of 18 interesting because it is our only 
Wanged. Seeds 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 
