FAR EASTERN MAPLES. 



347 



Acer pictam is a fine Maple, of which there are several variegated 

 forms in cultivation, the best probably being A. pictum tricolor. A 

 recently introduced green self -coloured variety of Acer pictum from 

 China, named Mono, is fully described in a later part of this paper. 



Acer rulinervc is a very handsome Japanese species, introduced through 

 Maries and first distributed in 1881. It is indeed a beautiful tree, of rapid 

 growth and perfectly hardy. 



The leaves are fully 3 inches in length, slightly variable in form but 

 usually 3-5 lobed, with a margin toothed and jagged. The nerves on the 

 under surface are covered with a reddish tomentum when young, which is 

 lost as the leaf reaches maturity, and the young shoots are covered with 

 a bluish-grey glaucescence, forming a very remarkable and distinct 

 characteristic. 



The bark has the peculiar and pretty variegation characteristic of the 

 Pennsylvanian Acer striatum, i.e. bright green striped with white. 



A variety of Acer rufinervc is figured in the "Botanical Magazine," 

 t. 5793, from material supplied by Mr. Standish, who exhibited it before 

 the Royal Horticultural Society in May 1869. It has a regular margin 

 of pure white round its leaves, from which circumstance it received the 

 varietal name albo-limbatum. The "keys" are rather small, but are 

 freely produced in drooping racemes, and just before they fall are coloured 

 with a pleasing reddish tint. It is a handsome Maple and a charming 

 companion to the type. 



Another Japanese species, Acer Sicboldianum, sometimes known by 

 the name of Acer palmatum Kcempfcri, commemorates the labours of 

 Dr. Siebold, to whom we owe so much for his work among the plants of 

 Japan, and their introduction to Europe. 



The leaves are 7-lobed, with serrate margins ; the flowers are yellow, 

 and the wings of the "keys" widely divergent; the petioles and the 

 pedicels of the flowers are thickly covered with hairs. 



Other Japanese species sometimes met with and certainly worthy of 

 attention are A. tenellum, an interesting species with small trilobed leaves 

 of thin texture, and entire margins ; A. tataricum, introduced in 1759, 

 a native also of Central and Southern Russia, the Caucasus, Austria, and 

 European Turkey, a small-growing tree with dark shining green leaves 

 purple in autumn, and red-coloured fruit, very attractive during September 

 and October; and A. trinerve, a Chinese species cultivated in Japan, with 

 leaves more or less distinctly 3-lobed. 



Of recent years few new Maples of beauty and interest have been 

 available to British planters, but there is little doubt several species and 

 forms among the rich collections recently made in Western China by 

 Wilson will be appreciated and probably obtain a permanent footing in 

 parks and gardens. 



The arboreal flora of Central and Western China, which has been and 

 is still being explored by this remarkably successful traveller, has proved 

 rich in these trees. 



Bretschneider, in his " History of the European Botanical Discoveries 

 in China," enumerates some forty species as being recorded from that 

 country, but many of them are also found in Japan and India, and are not 



