52 
Some Asiatic Maples. Another reader of these Bulletins asks for 
information about Acer capillipeSy A. truncatum, A. mandschuricum 
and A. Henryi. 
Acer capillipes is related to the North American Striped Maple or 
Moosewood {Acer pennsylvanicum) and has the same three-lobed leaves 
which are bright red as they unfold, smaller fruit on longer stems and 
even more beautiful green and white striped bark. This Maple appears 
to be exceedingly rare in Japan. Professor Sargent saw one tree hang- 
ing over the bank of the Kisogawa near Agamatsu on the Nagasendo 
Road in Japan. The plants raised from the seeds gathered by him from 
this tree appear to be the only ones in cultivation in the United States 
and Europe. The rarity of this tree is shown by the fact that it was 
not seen by Wilson in his extensive travels in Japan, and the plants 
raised from the seed which he secured in Japan of what was called 
Acer capillipes prove to be the common A. rufinerve. A. capillipes 
has not grown well in the Arboretum, and the plants now twenty-five 
years old are still shrubs and have not flowered. Even if it could be 
obtained, this tree, judging by its behavior in the Arboretum, could 
not be recommended for planting in the northern states. 
Acer truncatum is a native of northern China and was raised at the 
Arboretum in 1882. It is a small tree with deeply five-lobed leaves 
usually nearly square at the base, purplish as they unfold and light 
green and shining during the summer. This tree is perfectly hardy 
here, although it sometimes suffers from the splitting of the bark in 
winter. It has not produced seeds in the Arboretum where there are 
now only comparatively small plants, the plants first raised here hav- 
ing already disappeared. One of the original plants, then about twenty 
feet high, was standing a few years ago in the Ellwanger & Barry 
Nursery in Rochester, New York. 
Acer mandschuricum is one of the Trifoliate Maples with leaves com- 
posed of three narrow, long-pointed leaflets which are red as they 
unfold and long, slender, bright red stalks. This is one of the large 
trees in the mountain forests of eastern Siberia, forming a massive 
trunk and a great head of wide-spreading branches. It is perfectly 
hardy in the Arboretum where it has grown rapidly and is producing 
fruit this year for the first time. This is one of the most interesting 
of the Maples here of recent introduction, and promises to become a 
valuable ornamental tree in this climate. 
Acer Henryi is a small tree of central and northern China, related 
to the North American Box Elder or Ash-leaved Maple {Acer Negundo), 
from which it differs in the smaller number of leaflets which are usu- 
ally three, while the leaves of the American Negundo are composed of 
from three to seven leaflets. The flowers of the Chinese tree are pro- 
vided with petals which are not found on those of its American rela- 
tive. A. Henryi, which has been tried in various situations in the 
Arboretum, grows badly in all and is usually seriously injured by cold. 
It cannot therefore be recommended for general cultivation here or as 
a substitute for the American Acer Negundo which is a perfectly hardy 
and fast-growing tree. 
