344 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with seven-lobed leaves, of which A. palmatum septemlobum is the type. 

 This variety is a handsome Maple resembling palmatum in appearance, 

 but the leaves are larger and divided into seven instead of five points. 

 (Fig. 84.) 



When first produced the leaves are of a reddish hue, changing when 

 mature to a bright green, and in autumn to a rich amber-yellow or some- 

 times a crimson hue. There is a good specimen at Coombe Wood, 

 measuring 10 feet in height and 14 in diameter, well furnished to the 

 base with branches and foliage. 



The form elegans is a more ornamental variety than septemlobum, 

 from which it differs in having the lobes of the leaves more deeply serrate, 

 and, when first expanded, margined with delicate rose. The mature 

 leaves also are of a softer and lighter shade of green. 



There is also a form of elegans, known as purpureum, which differs in 

 having its deeply cut leaves coloured deep purplish-crimson, which become 

 suffused with greenish-black as they mature : a particularly handsome 

 plant when well grown. 



A. palmatum septemlobum rufescens is a seven-lobed form, cut almost 

 to the base of the leaf- blade into sharply pointed leaflets, which are 

 biserrate along the margins. When first produced these are of a pale 

 green hue, and they change to dark green with a reddish tinge as they 

 mature. 



Of the varieties composing the third division or dissectum group 

 perhaps the best are A. palmatum dissectum, its form ornatum, and 

 A. palmatum palmatifidum. (Fig. 85.) 



The leaves of A. palmatum dissectum are very finely cut into an 

 infinite variety of form, giving the foliage a distinctly Fern-like appear- 

 ance. The young growths of this variety are long, slender, and pendulous, 

 and, like the leaves, are of a deep crimson hue, especially in early summer. 



The subvariety A. palmatum ornatum has leaves which are even 

 more finely and elegantly divided than dissectum, and of a brighter 

 crimson hue. 



A. palmatum palmatifidum resembles dissectum in the form and 

 lobing of its leaves, but is distinct from that variety in the colour of its 

 foliage, which is of a light cheerful green changing to amber-yellow in 

 autumn. 



A more suitable companion to dissectum or its variety ornatum could 

 not be found. 



Two other useful forms of the dissectum group are decompositum and 

 linearilobum, both worthy of culture. 



In A, palmatum dissectum decompositum the bark of the young 

 shoots is bright reddish-crimson, and the foliage a soft fulvous-green, 

 forming a pleasing contrast to the more showy colour of the stems on 

 which it is produced. Primarily divided into five lobes, the subdivisions 

 of the leaves are again deeply cut into a variety of forms. 



The form linearilobum has its leaves divided into long, narrow, 

 slightly toothed lobes, which, when first developed, are of a decidedly 

 reddish tinge, as are the shoots upon which they are produced ; these 

 become green with age, but retain the reddish tinge in the footstalks and 

 margins. 



