XXXL. THE MOUNTAIN MAPLE. A497 
shaped or rounded at base, smooth, impressed at the veins 
above, paler and with the veinlets ferruginous, downy, or hairy 
beneath; cicatrix of the bud leaves conspicuous, above which 
are two raised lines encircling the branch. Upper leaves often 
long and very narrow. Clusters of fruit pendulous. 
I have no doubt, from what I have observed of this beautiful 
tree, that it might be easily trained to a height of thirty feet. 
I have found it growing naturally twenty-five feet high, and 
nineteen or twenty inches in circumference, and Mr. Bacon, of 
Richmond, tells me he has known it attain the height of thirty- 
five feet. It well deserves careful cultivation. The striking 
striated appearance of the trunk, at all times, the delicate rose 
color of the buds and leaves on opening, and the beauty of the 
ample foliage afterwards, the graceful, pendulous racemes of 
flowers, succeeded by large, showy keys, not unlike a cluster 
of insects, will sufficiently recommend it. In France, Michaux 
says it has been increased to four times its natural size by 
grafting on the sycamore. 
There are few uses of this beautiful little tree. In the west- 
ern part of the State, where it is well known, its lcaves are 
successfully applied to inflamed wounds and bruises. 
Sp. 5. Tue Mounramn Marie. A. spiedium. L. 
Figured in Audubon’s Birds, I, Plate 134; also by Michaux, I, 253; Loudon, 
Arboretum, V, 30. 
The Mountain Maple is a slender, small tree or shrub, usually 
rising eight feet or more, although it sometimes attains thrice that 
height, as I observed particularly in Becket. The recent shoots 
are of a fresh, ight green, with an orange or purplish shade, 
somewhat downy. ‘Those of the previous year are of a light 
purple, smooth, with indistinct dots, blotched and striated below 
with green. ‘The branches and trunk are of a clear, light gray, 
striate with olive above and rough at base. 
The leaves, which are heart-shaped at base, coarsely toothed, 
downy beneath, and divided into 3 or 5 lobes, which taper to a 
point, are on very long petioles, which become scarlet in Sep- 
tember. The racemes are on the ends of the branches, the keys 
very divergent, and smaller than those of any other species. 
64 
