Complimentary 
NEW SERIES VOL. VIII 
NO. 3 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. MAY 5, 1922 
The Norway Maple. Following the native White and Red Maples 
and the Box Elder {Acer Negundo), the Norway Maple {Acer platanoides) 
is now covered with its clusters of yellow flowers; and of the trees of 
large size which grow in New England only the Red Maple and some 
of the Willows are more conspicuous in early spring. The Norway 
Maple, which in spite of its common name in this country is not ex- 
clusively a Scandinavian tree but is widely distributed over Europe and 
reaches the Caucasus, is one of the few European trees which grows 
well and attains old age in our northeastern states. There are, how- 
ever, a few other European trees which have grown to a large size 
here, and the Horsechestnut, the White and the Fragile Willows, some 
of the Poplars, three or four of the Lindens, the Elms, the Beech and 
the Birches often are as much at home as they are in western Europe, 
but no other European tree has been more generally planted in the east- 
ern states during the last fifty years than the Norway Maple which 
flourishes from southern New England to the Potomac. It is a round- 
topped tree with wide-spreading branches, sometimes a hundred feet 
high, with a trunk three or four feet in diameter, although trees of 
such size have not yet been produced in America; it has comparatively 
smooth light brown bark, smooth pale branches and dark green lustrous 
leaves with pointed lobes, which turn yellow in the autumn. The flow- 
ers, which open before the leaves appear, are arranged in compact 
round clusters. The fruit is clustered and smooth with large spreading 
wings. The Norway Maple is able to bear without injury the condi- 
tions of American city life, but its branches naturally spread so wide 
that it cannot wisely be used except to shade exceptionally wide side- 
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