488 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
oblong, brown dots; in the second year, they become finely 
striate with brown, and the dots enlarge. Afterwards, they 
assume the ash or granite gray of the trunk. The bark con- 
tinues smooth until the tree has attained a considerable size; in 
old trees the trunk is rough with oblong scales, several inches 
in length and free at one end or both. ‘The branches are large, 
sradually expanding as they ascend, but sometimes pendulous, 
somewhat in the manner of those of the elm. 
The flowers come out early in April, before the leaves. The 
male flowers are in close, abundant, crowded whorls, on long 
footstalks. ‘The stamens are about 6. ‘The female flowers are 
somewhat less crowded. ‘The stigmais short. "The two kinds 
of flowers are sometimes intermingled. ‘The pedicel of the 
female flower afterwards lengthens. ‘T’he mature sced-vessels, 
or samarc, cohere at a somewhat large angle; they are thick, 
and nearly two inches in length; when young, covered with 
yellowish hairs, but afterwards becoming nearly smooth. 
The leaves, on long and slender footstalks, are often five or 
six inches long and four or five wide, deeply divided, usually 
into 5, sometimes into but 3, long lobes, tapering to a long point, 
each somewhat 3-lobed and deeply and sharply cut into slender 
teeth. ‘The notches between the lobes are formed as if by two 
circles intersecting each other. ‘The under surface of the leaves 
is of a silvery whiteness. The last formed leaves are remark- 
ably and beautifully cut. The young leaves are covered with 
a brownish pubescence, but at length become entirely smooth. 
The wood of the White Maple, is soft, white, and fine-grained, 
but with little strength, and very perishable. It is therefore 
little used where almost any other wood can be found. Its sap 
contains sugar, but far less abundantly than the Sugar Maple. 
The bark may be used with the salts of iron to form a black 
dye. 
The beauty of the finely cut foliage, the contrast between the 
rich green of the upper surface of the leaves and the silver 
color of the lower, and the magnificent spread of the limbs of 
the White Maple, recommend it as an ornamental tree; and it 
has been extensively introduced in New York, Philadelphia 
and some other cities. 
