140 FAMILIAR TREES 



leaves and to the somewhat sombre greens of the 

 fohage. The white milky juice, or " latex," in the 

 young parts is also characteristic. 



All the Maple group have three principal veins 

 or ribs radiating from the base of the leaf, and in 

 most cases the blade is lobed in a correspondingly 

 palmate manner. The leaves of our English Maple 

 seldom much exceed two inches across, averaging 

 only an inch and a half; but their outline is very 

 characteristic, the five main lobes of the leaf, and the 

 clefts or " sinuses " between them being alike rounded, 

 whilst the base of the leaf is broad and obtusely 

 cordate — i.e. heart-shaped. They have generally a 

 few slight notches in the margin ; but are sometimes 

 quite entire. The slender leaf-stalks, over an inch in 

 length, are crimson, and the young leaves are downy 

 and of a blue-green tint, which afterwards changes as 

 they become smooth to a shade in which there is a 

 considerable admixture of brown and yellow. In a 

 favourable autumn they turn to the clearest lemon- 

 yellow, not retaining a trace of green, and not decay- 

 ing to the copper-brown of sodden decay until they 

 have fallen from the tree ; so that, though less varied 

 than those of their kinsfolk the Horse-chestnuts, they 

 are brighter and less melancholy in their associations. 



It is distinctive of our Common Maple that its 

 inconspicuous clusters of green flowers terminate the 

 young shoots of the same year, instead of being pro- 

 duced by lateral buds altogether distinct from those 

 which develop into foliage, as is the case in many 

 other species of the genus. These clusters stand erect, 

 unlike those of the Sycamore, which hang downwards ; 



