DECIDUOUS TREES. 
347 
The Spike-flowered or Mountain Maple, Acer spicatum , is 
another dwarf American species, native of the Alleghany Mountains, 
and valued in England for its autumn beauty, caused by the rose- 
color of its large pendulous spikes of winged seeds. Height fifteen 
to thirty feet. Growth rapid when young. 
The Sycamore Maple. Acer pseudo platanus. —A large, hand¬ 
some tree, native of Europe, of more rapid upright growth than 
our sugar maple. The bark of its young wood is ash-colored and 
remarkably smooth. The foliage has the same cleanly luxuriance 
that distinguishes our sugar maple, and the leaves are a little 
larger. In England it becomes a tree of the largest size in sixty 
or seventy years, and its trunk attains a great size in propor¬ 
tion to its age. There are specimens there nearly a hundred feet 
high, and six to nine feet diameter of trunk. We do not know of 
any great trees of it in this country. Loudon says that it will 
grow on exposed situations, and especially on the seacoast, and 
maintain its erect position against the sea-breeze better than most 
other trees, and that it is especially adapted to plant around houses 
located on bleak hills, as it rarely shows any one-sidedness of 
growth in consequence of the action of the winds. The four fol¬ 
lowing varieties of the sycamore maple are all valuable : 
The Guelder-rose-leaved Maple, A. p. opulifolium , is a 
smaller, globular, dense-leaved variety, native of the mountains of 
France and Spain. A small tree. 
The Purple-leaved Maple. A. p. purpurea. —The leaves 
are purplish beneath, and the stalks of a bright dark-red. The 
foliage is vigorous and healthy. “ The tree has a very fine appear¬ 
ance when the leaves are slightly ruffled by the wind, alternately 
appearing clothed in purple and pale green. In spring, when the 
leaves first expand, the purple bloom is not obvious; but when 
they become matured it is very distinct ” ( Arboretum Britafinicuin). 
A large tree, every way desirable. 
The White Variegated-leaved Maple. A. p. alba varie- 
gata. —The silver-striped leaved of some nurseries. This is con¬ 
sidered the most ornamental of all the variegated-leaved maples, 
especially in the spring when the leaves first expand. Small sped- 
