( Ho) 



The wings of the " key " fruit of the black maple are scarcely 

 parallel, tending, rather, to diverge when old. The most 

 distinctive difference between the two trees is the leaves. In 

 the sugar maple the under-side of the leaf-blades is paler than 

 the upper; in the black maple the leaf is uniformly green 

 throughout. 



The black maple grows from Quebec to Georgia and west- 

 ward. Its wood is used for the same purpose as that of the 

 preceding, and a little sugar is made from its juice. 



The Norway maple {Acer platanoides) is our most widely 

 planted foreign maple. In the Hudson Valley it occurs wild 

 only as a very rare escape from street or garden plantations. 

 It is a native of northern Europe. 



Ash-leaved Maple Acer Negundo 



This tree takes its common name from its compound 

 leaves which are somewhat like those of the ash. In the 

 Hudson Valley it is the only maple that has a leaf composed 

 of from 3 to 5 leaflets all joined to a common leaf-stalk. The 

 tree often attains a height of 50 feet or more and the trunk 

 is clothed with a thick-ridged and scaly brown bark. The 

 leaflets, one or two parts of which with a terminal one are 

 attached to a common leaf-stalk, are thin, oval or lance- 

 shaped, and often irregularly or one-sidedly lobed. Either 

 with the leaves or a trifle before them, the bright green 

 flowers bloom. The flowers are without petals, and ar- 

 ranged in clusters similar to those of the striped maple and 

 rock maple. When the tree is in fruit the cluster elongates 

 greatly. The wings of the " key " fruits are divergent at 

 various angles. 



The ash-leaved maple grows from New York along the 

 mountains to Alabama and westward. As a wild plant it 

 is not definitely known in the Hudson Valley but it may be 

 found in the northern part and it is much planted for orna- 

 ment. The wood is soft and weak and is used to a limited 

 extent in the manufactures. Paper pulp is made from it. 



