ACE 
headlefs. F. Lafitan fays, that by Acephali are only 
meant, people w hofe heads are funk, below their fhoulders. 
In effeit, Hulfius, in his epitome of Sir Walter Raleigh’s 
voyage to Guaiana, alfo fpeaks of a people which that tra¬ 
veller found in the province of Irvipanama, between the 
lakes of Panama and Callipa, who had no head or neck; 
and Hondius, in his map, marks the place with the figures 
of thefe monfters. Yet De Laet rejefts the ftory ; being 
informed by others, that the inhabitants of the banks of 
the Caora, a river that flows out of the lake of CafTipa, 
have their head fo far funk between their fhoulders, that 
many believed they had their eyes in their fhoulders and 
their mouths in their breads. 
But, though the exifience of a nation of Acephali be ill 
warranted, naturalifts furnifh leveral infhmces of indivi¬ 
duals born without heads, by fome lufus or aberration of 
nature. Wepfer gives a catalogue of fuch acephalous 
births, from Schenckius, Licetus, Paraeus, Wolfius, Mau- 
riceau, See. 
Acephalus, an obfolete term for the taenia or tape¬ 
worm, which was long fuppofed to be acephalous. See 
Taenia. The firll who gave it a head was Tulpius ; and 
after him, Fehr : the former even makes it biceps, or two- 
headed. 
Acephalus, isalfoufed to exprefs a verfe defedlive in 
the beginning. 
ACER,yi [according to fome from acris, on account 
of the hardnefs of the wood : according to others, from 
acre ingenium , becaufe it w’as much employed by ingenious 
artificers in fine works,] the Maple-tree. This belongs 
to the polygamia monoecia clafs, and ranks in the natural 
order of trihilatae. The generic charadter of the herma¬ 
phrodite flowers are—Calyx : perianth one-leaved, five- 
cleft, acute, coloured, flat and entire at the bale, per¬ 
manent. Corolla: petals five, ovate, broader outward, 
obtufe, fcarcely larger than the calyx, fpreading. Sta¬ 
mina: filaments eight, fubulate, fhort. Anthera; fimple : 
pollen cruciform.' Piftillum : germ compreffed, immerfed 
in a convex perforated large receptacle. Style filiform, 
advancing in height daily. Stigmas two (or three) point¬ 
ed, flender, reflex. Pericarpium: capfules the number 
of the ftigmas, coalefcent at the bale, roundifli, compref- 
fed, each terminated by a very large membranous wing. 
Seeds: folitary, roundifli. The male flowers are the fame 
with the hermaphrodites, except that they have neither 
germ nor flyle, but only a bifid ftigma. On the firft un¬ 
folding of the flower, the ftigma only appears ; and, a few 
days after, the ftyle. Hermaphrodite flowers in the fame 
umbel are often of two kinds: the lower ones feminine 
hermaphrodites, of which the antherte do not burft, but 
the piftil grow's into a fruit; the upper ones mafeuline 
hermaphrodites, of which the antherae fcatter their duft, 
and the piftils do not grow, but fall off.— EJfential Charac¬ 
ter. Calyx, five-cleft; corolla, five-petalled; ftamina, 
eight (or ten); germs, two (or three) fuperior ; ftyle, fim¬ 
ple ; capfule, two (fometimes three) with one feed in each, 
terminated by a wing ; males, without germ or ftyle. 
The genus acer or maple conlifts entirely of trees, mod: 
of them yielding a faccharine juice from the trunk, 
branches, and leaves. All, except the two laft, have fim¬ 
ple leaves, generally palmate, or elfe divided into three or 
five lobes. The flowers are either in racemes or corymbs, 
commonly from the tides of the twigs ; of an herbaceous 
or yellowifli-green colour (except in the fourth) : there 
are males and imperfedl hermaphrodites, either mixed 
with or diftindt from the perfect flowers. Sometimes 
the petals are wanting, or elfe they referable the leaflets 
of the calyx fo as fcarcely to be diftinguiflied from them. 
Two united winged capfules generally fucceed to each 
perfect flower ; but fometimes there are three. 
Species, i. Acerfempervirens, evergreen-maple : leaves 
ovate, quite entire, evergreen. Mr. Miller deferibes 
this fpecies as a flirub, with the leaves of the colour and 
confidence of box. It was fent him from the Duke d’Ay- 
en’s garden; and he had the feeds from the Levant. Lin- 
A C E 6 S 
nteus retains this as a diftindt fpecies : it appears to be but 
a variety, though a remarkable one, of the Cretan maple. 
2. Acer tartaricum, Tartarian maple : leaves heart- 
fhaped, undivided ferrate, lobes obfeure ; flowers in ra¬ 
cemes. It is an inhabitant of fouthern RulTia; by the 
Tanais, Volga, &c. The wood is whitifh, with fome 
brownifh veins. The feeds are ufed as aftringents by the 
Calmuc Tartars, boiled with milk and butter. Linnaeus 
deferibes this as a lofty fhrub, or rather a low tree, not 
exceeding twenty feet in height ; with leaves like thofeof 
hornbeam, having fcarcely any apparent lobes : with flow¬ 
ers in racemes, as in the great maple, but the raceme 
compound, and the flowers petaloid. They appear early, 
and are fometimes followed by ripe feeds in our gardens. 
3. Acer pfeudoplatanus, or great maple; leaves five- 
loht-d, unequally ferrate, flowers in racemes. It grows wild 
in^hitzerland, Germany, Auflria, and Italy, in mountain- 
01?$ lituations. With us it is vulgarly called the fycamore- 
tfefc, and by fome mock-plane. In Scotland it is known 
by the appellation of plane-tree. It grows to a great 
height, has frequently a clean ftraight bole and a fpread¬ 
ing top. It is in leaf by the middle of April; and on their 
firft appearance the leaves are of a pleafant green, but they 
exude a clammy juice fo abundantly, that they attradl a 
variety of infects, which foon perforate and disfigure 
them. The bunches of flowers are in full blow within a 
fortnight after the appearance of the leaves ; but, being of 
an herbaceous colour, they make no great appearance. 
The great maple was formerly much planted for walks 
and avenues, but has lately given way to better or more 
lightly trees. This, however, the Norway, and fome of 
the reft, are peculiarly proper to make plantations near 
the fea, or to Ihelter other trees in that fituation; for they 
refill the fpray better than 1110ft trees. They alfo do lefs 
damage to grafs in paftures. An enormous tree of this 
fort is faid to have been growing before the duke of Dor- 
fet’s feat at Knowle, in Kent. It is reprefented in Bude- 
flade’s view of that feat, and is preferved in Dr. Harris’s, 
hiftory of the county. It was twelve or fourteen feet in 
girth. The original plantations of Vauxhall and Mary- 
bone gardens were chiefly of this tree. Before earthen¬ 
ware came into ufeatthe table, the wood of the great ma¬ 
ple, which is foft and white, was in much requeft for 
trenchers. It is ftill ufed by the turners for bowls, dilh- 
es, &c. by the fadlers for faddle-trees ; and is recom¬ 
mended by Mr. Evelyn as excellent for cart and plow- 
timber, being light and tough. It is however inferior to 
the afh for thefe purpofes. In fpring and autumn, this 
fpecies will pour forth from the wounded Item, in the fame 
manner as the birch, abundance of faccharine juice ; from 
which a good wine may be made, as Mr. Ray affirms, from 
the information of Dr. Martin Lifter. There are two 
varieties of this tree common in the nurferies ; one which 
has only broader leaves and larger keys; the other with 
variegated leaves, producing a plealing variety in the tints 
of large plantations. 
4. Acer rubrum, or fcarlet-flowering maple : leave*- 
five-lobed, llightly toothed, glaucous underneath ; pe¬ 
duncles very fimple and aggregate. Of this fpecies there 
are two varieties in the nurferies: 1. Virginian fcarlet- 
flowering maple. 2. Sir Charles Wager’s flowering ma¬ 
ple. This fort is propagated with us for the fake of the 
fcarlet flowers, which come out early in the fpring. In 
Pennfylvania, v/here it grows in the fwamps, the natives 
ufe it for almoft all forts of wood-work; with the bark 
they dye a dark-blue, and make a good black ink. The 
Canadians tap the tree for the juice, of which they make 
fugar and treacle. 
5. Acer faccharinum, or American fugar maple : leaves, 
five-parted-palmate, point-toothed, pubefeent. This 
maple will grow to the height of forty feet. It has fome 
refemblance to the Norway, when the plan's are young ; 
but, as they grow up, the leaves of this are more deeply 
divided, and their furfaces lefs fmooth, fo that the two- 
fpecies are then eafily diftinguilhed. From this tree the 
3 iaha,~ 
