Part 56

FRUIT.--Ripens in autumn; glabrous, paired samaras, clustered on drooping pedicels; wings set wide apart, but only slightly diverging.

WINTER-BUDS.--Small, ovoid, acute, with dark red-brown, acute scales, hoary-pubescent on the outer surface.

BARK.--Twigs smooth, pale gray; becoming thick, deeply furrowed and sometimes almost black on the trunk.

WOOD.--Hard, heavy, strong, close-grained, creamy white, with thin, lighter colored sapwood.

DISTRIBUTION.--Lower Peninsula, south-eastern portion.

HABITAT.--Prefers low, moist, rich soil of river-bottoms, but does well on gravelly soils and uplands.

NOTES.--Very variable. A very good shade tree because of its dense foliage. It is claimed by some that the finest grades of maple sugar are made from the sap of this tree.

1. Winter twig, × 1. 2. Portion of twig, enlarged. 3. Leaf, × 1/2. 4. Staminate flowering branchlet, × 1. 5. Staminate flower, enlarged. 6. Pistillate flowering branchlet, × 1. 7. Pistillate flower, enlarged. 8. Fruit, × 1/2.]

+ACERACEAE+

+Silver Maple. Soft Maple+

Acer saccharinum L. [Acer dasycarpum Ehrh.]

HABIT.--A beautiful tree, growing to a height of 60-80 feet, with a trunk diameter of 2-4 feet, usually separating near the ground into 3-4 upright stems which are destitute of branches for a considerable distance. Usually the long, slender branches bend downwards, but with their tips ascending in a graceful curve. Crown broad, especially in its upper portion.

LEAVES.--Opposite, simple, 3-6 inches long and nearly as broad; usually 5-lobed by narrow, acute sinuses which extend nearly to the midrib, the lobes often sublobed, sharply toothed; light green above, silvery white beneath, turning pale yellow in autumn; petioles long, slender, drooping.

FLOWERS.--March-April, before the leaves; polygamo-monoecious or dioecious; small, yellow-green, in crowded, sessile umbels; calyx 5-lobed (sometimes each lobe again divided); corolla 0; stamens 3-7; ovary hairy.

FRUIT.--May, germinating as soon as it reaches the ground; paired samaras, large, glabrous, curving inwards, one samara often aborted.

WINTER-BUDS.--Dark red, blunt; the terminal about 1/4 inch long, with bud-scales often apiculate at the apex; flower-buds clustered on side spurs.

BARK.--Twigs smooth, red-gray, lustrous; young trunks gray, smooth; old trunks dark gray, more or less furrowed, separating into thin, loose scales.

WOOD.--Hard, strong, close-grained, rather brittle, perishable, pale brown, with thick, lighter colored sapwood.

DISTRIBUTION.--Lower Peninsula south of Saginaw Bay.

HABITAT.--Prefers low, rich bottom-lands, subject to occasional inundation, but not in swamps.

NOTES.--A rapid grower, adapting itself to a variety of soils. Does not do well on dry, elevated ground. The first tree to blossom in early spring.

1. Winter twig, × 1. 2. Portion of twig, enlarged. 3. Leaf, × 1. 4. Fascicle of staminate flowers, × 1. 5. Staminate flower, enlarged. 6. Fascicle of pistillate flowers, × 1. 7. Pistillate flower, enlarged. 8. Fruit, × 3/4.]

+ACERACEAE+

+Red Maple. Soft Maple+

Acer rubrum L.

HABIT.--A medium-sized tree 40-50 feet high, occasionally in swamps 60-75 feet; trunk 1-3 feet in diameter; upright branches, which form a low, rather narrow, rounded crown.

LEAVES.--Opposite, simple, 3-4 inches long and nearly as broad; 3-5-lobed by broad, acute sinuses, the lobes irregularly doubly serrate or toothed; glabrous, green above, whitish and generally glabrous beneath, turning bright scarlet in autumn; petioles long, slender.

FLOWERS.--March-April, before the leaves; polygamo-monoecious or dioecious; in few-flowered fascicles on shoots of the previous year, the pistillate red, the staminate orange; sepals 4-5; petals 4-5; stamens 5-8; ovary smooth.