MAPLE FAMILY. 



89 



Shrub or small tree. Leaflets somewhat doubly serrate, shining above, smooth or some- 

 what downy beneath. Flowers large, in a loose thyrsus, calyx and corolla bright red. 

 Virginia, Kentucky and southward. May. 



Obs. The bruised branches of this are said, by EUiott, to be employed 

 to stupify fish. Several other species are natives of the western and 

 southern States, known by the name of Buckeye, " from a resemblance 

 of 'the seeds to the eye of that animal. These native trees, by reason of 

 their abundance, have become the popular emblem of Ohio — which is 

 known throughout the Union by the soubriquet of the Buckeye State.'' 

 The wood of the various species is of little value. The seeds contain an 

 acrid and narcotic principle and abound in starch, which has been man- 

 ufactured from the common Horse-chestnut in Europe. The roots 

 yield a mucilaginous matter which is sometimes used as a substitute for 

 soap in washing woollens. * 



Order XXIII. ACEEA'CEJS. (Maple Family.) 



7rees with a sweet sap, opposite leaves without stipules, and polygamo-dioecious, regular but 

 often apetalous and unsymmctrical_^oii'm\ Siaviens and petals inserted on a fleshy, lobed 

 disk. Fruit a pair of more or less diverging separable 1-seeded winged keys (samaras) 

 with the outer margin thicker and obtuse. Seeds without albumen ; embryo coiled or folded ; 

 cotyledons long and thin. 



1. A'CER, L. Maple. 



[The ancient classical name of the Maple. 



Flowers polygamous. Calyx colored, 5-lobed. Petals 5 or often none. 

 Stamens 4: -12. Styles 2, long and slender, united below. Ovary 2- 

 celled with 2 ovules in each cell. Fruit 2 1-seeded winged keys. 

 * Flowers in pendulous racemes or corymbs, appearing with the leaves. 

 t Petals 5. 



1. A. Pseudo-pla'tanus, L. Leaves heart-shaped at base, 5-lobed, un- 

 equally toothed ; flowers in terminal pendulous racemes ; fruit diverging. 

 False-Plat ANUS Acer. Sycamore. Greater Maple. 



A large tree when fully grown. Leaves 4c -Q inches long, on petioles about the same 

 length. Racemes about 6 inches long ; rachis and filaments hairy ; flowers yellowish green, 

 the sepals and petals nearly alike ; fruit smooth. 



Cultivated. Native of Europe. April. 



Obs. This has been introduced as an ornamental shade tree ; but I 

 consider our own Sugar Maple and the Norway Maple, as decidedly 

 preferable, notwithstanding Cowper's lines : 



" nor unnoted pass 



The Sycamore, capricious in attire, 



Now green, now tawny, and, ere autumn yet 



Have changed the woods, in scarlet honors bright." 



Both this and the Plane Tree (Platanus), are vulgarly called Sycamore 

 in our language; but why, is not apparent. The true "Sycamore" — 

 - (perhaps the tree which Zaccheus climbed) — is a species of Fig-tree 

 (Ficus Sycomorus, L.) 



