98 
RED FLOWERING MAPLE. 
annual inundations: in such situations its vegetation would be surprisingly 
beautiful aud rapid. 
PLATE XL. 
A branch with leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1 , Barren flowers. Fig. 2, 
Fertile floivers. Fig. 3j A seed of the natural size. 
[For measurements of several White Maples see Emerson’s Trees and 
Shrubs of Massachusetts, p. 489.] 
RED FLOWERING MAPLE. 
Acer rubrum. A.foliis oppositis, trilobis, inæqualiter dentatis, sublus glaucis: 
Jloribus rubris, aggregatis ; germine glaberrimo ; umbellis sessilibus : cap- 
sulis rubris, pedunculatis. 
Different names are given to this tree in different parts of the United 
States : east of the Alleghany Mountains, it is called Red-flowering Maple, 
Swamp Maple and Soft Maple ; in the Western Country, simply Maple. 
The first denomination, which is most generally in use, is also most appro- 
priate, as the young shoots, the flowers, and the fruit are red. 
Toward the North, the Red-flowering Maple appears first about Male- 
baye, in Canada, in the latitude 48° ; but it soon becomes more common 
in proceeding southward, and is found abundant to the extremities of Flo- 
rida and Lower Louisiana. Of all the trees which flourish in wet grounds 
occasionally overflowed, this species is most multiplied in the Middle and 
Southern States. It occupies, in great part, the borders of the creeks, and 
abounds in all the swamps which are often inundated, and always miry. 
In these situations, it is accompanied by the Blackgum, Sweetgum, Shell- 
bark Hickory, Swamp White Oak, Black Ash and White Ash. To these 
are added, in the Carolinas and Georgia, the Small Magnolia or Swamp 
Bay, the Water Oak, Loblolly Bay, Tupelo, and Red Bay. It is a remark- 
able fact, that wmst of the mountains, between Brownsville and Pittsburg, 
the Red-flowering Maple is seen growing on elevated ground with the Oaks 
