THE MOOSEWOOD MAPLE 
A USEFUL ORNAMENTAL TREE 
By Annie Oakes Huntington 
T HE forest flora of Northeastern America 
is exceedingly rich in variety, and among 
so many species of large trees, each holding 
strong, individual interest, it is not strange 
that Acer Pennsylvanicum, the little Moose- 
wood Maple, has been somewhat overlooked 
in decorative planting. In spite of this fact, 
it is one of the most beautiful small trees to 
be found in our Northern woods, and one 
which abundantly deserves a place in our 
shrubberies and gardens. 
The Moosewood never 
grows to be a large tree, 
but this renders it most 
desirable to the landscape 
gardener for use in cer¬ 
tain situations. Where 
a belt of tall trees rises 
too abruptly from sur¬ 
rounding open fields, on 
an estate, a connecting 
intermediate growth may 
be obtained by planting 
this maple. The corn 
crop appearance of tim¬ 
ber trees in a farmer’s 
wood-lot, lor instance, is 
removed by a fringe of 
low growth, springing up 
from beneath, and one 
has only to be reminded 
of Moosewood Maples 
along a woodland country 
road to acknowledge how 
beautiful this growth 
may be. 
When a boundary 
plantation of trees be¬ 
tween two country places is not heavy enough 
to conceal a neighbor’s unsightly buildings, 
the Moosewood may be employed to thicken 
the growth between trunks ol the taller trees 
with excellent results,—its large leaves form 
a dense foliage of impenetrable green. 
On small suburban grounds, where the 
land is limited in extent, the Moosewood 
cannot be too highly recommended. In 
plantings of massed shrubs, so frequently 
used on small estates to frame in the lawn 
and to conceal the boundaries, it is often 
necessary to have height at the back, behind 
low-growing shrubs, and then no better tree 
than the Moosewood Maple can fill in this 
vacancy. 
As a single, specimen tree it is graceful 
and well-formed, with an erect habit of 
growth, smooth, crimson-colored stems and 
a trunk ol unvarying green, both in winter 
and in summer. It seems 
perfectly extraordinary 
that there should be so 
much color in the bark 
of this tree, and the oc¬ 
casional black and white 
vertical lines, which mark 
the trunk, serve to ac¬ 
centuate its lovely color. 
The large, three-lobed 
leaves are taper-pointed, 
with deep, well-defined 
veins, and the body of 
the leaf is rich in texture 
and strikingly beautiful, 
even to the most casual 
observer. Its greenish 
flowers grow in graceful, 
pendulous racemes, not 
particularly conspicuous, 
but in June the drooping 
clusters of green fruit, 
with wide, diverging 
wings, produce a most 
decorative effect. In 
autumn the leaves turn 
yellow in color, and seem 
to emit a soft, translucent 
light when sunshine strikes them. Even 
in winter the Moosewood is not without 
charm, for the recent shoots and buds are a 
rich sang de bceuf red, with the embryo leaves 
folded away under smooth, red bud-scales 
and silvery inner coverings. 1 recently ex¬ 
amined a bud which contained two minia¬ 
ture leaves, scarcely one-sixteenth of an inch 
in diameter, and it seemed incredible that 
these tiny, but perfectly formed leaves in the 
BUDS OF THE MOOSEWOOD MAPLE 
IN WINTER 
3 °2 
