Part 8

Acer rubrum]

A low tree, with a rounded head, smooth gray bark, reddish twigs dotted with brown, and small, round red buds with smooth scales. When old the bark cracks and peels off in long, slender flakes. Small leaf-scars opposite each other on the stem. The flowers come before the leaves, from the round flower buds clustered around the stem.

Even in the middle of winter the red maple is true to its distinctive characteristic of color, and one marvels to find so much red in its buds and twigs. The gray trunks are in fine contrast, and accentuate the color, and the curving tips of the branches, with their delicate twigs and graceful outlines, give the trees great beauty.

The red maple is one of the very first trees to bloom in the early spring, and then its color is conspicuous, for, as Lowell says, it “crimsons to a coral reef.” The flowers are sweet scented, and the carrying of pollen is done on a wholesale plan over the tree by little, inconspicuous insects, which carry the pollen dust from flower to flower.

Acer rubrum

Page 24 ]

Page 25 ]

In the autumn this tree is one of the first to turn, and its brilliant red leaves in the low swamp lands, beginning often the last of August or early September, invariably startle one with a swift premonition of winter. “How early the fall has come this year!” some one usually says, and no one realizes it is just the habit of early maturity peculiar to that particular red maple. It is a tree closely associated with Thoreau, for we read that he spent much time in extracting sugar from its sap, against the wishes of his more practical-minded father, who could not understand why his son should spend time and money over such an experiment, when he could buy better and cheaper sugar at the store.

The wood, although it is close-grained and firm, is not so much used as that of the sugar maple, owing to the fact that it decays when exposed to alternate moisture and dryness. There are several varieties of the wood. The curled maple, one of the most attractive, has wavy fibres which catch the light like watered silk, and it is much used in cabinet work. The sap is only half as rich in sugar as that of the sugar maple.

The Latin name, Acer rubrum,—red maple,—came from the Celtic word rub, signifying red.

Acer saccharinum]

This tree is found growing wild in wet places throughout New England, and it is also often cultivated. The trunk is low and divided into spreading branches that form a spacious head. The branches sweep down and turn up with curving tips. Smooth, red buds like those of the red maple. It blossoms before the leaves are out, like the red maple.

It is always a delight to find this tree growing naturally where it has not been planted, for, owing to its habit of growing near flowing streams with clear, sandy bottoms, one rarely comes across it. It is a tree to look for on a canoeing trip, and when one discovers its long, drooping branches hanging over the stream, the feeling of isolation is complete; a silver maple on a river bank accentuates the sense of being in the country, just as the notes of the hermit thrush accentuate the sense of remoteness in the woods.

In winter there are two distinct characteristics by which one may distinguish the silver maple from the red which it closely resembles,—the curving tips of the lower branches which sweep down and curve up in a pronounced way unlike the red maple, and the manner in which the bark peels off from the old trunks, in long pieces which are free at either end and attached in the middle, while the bark of the red maple splits up and down the trunk without shagging in strips.

The wood of the silver maple is soft and perishable and is seldom used.

The former name of this tree was Acer dasycarpum, but it has been changed to Acer saccharinum, the old name for the sugar maple,—Acer saccharum.

Acer saccharinum

Page 27 ]

It is found growing wild along river banks from New Brunswick to Florida, and it is frequently planted in cities and towns.

Acer pennsylvanicum]

A small tree, with smooth green shoots and a light green bark striped with white. The leaf-scars are opposite, and encircle the stem, and are conspicuously ridged, with two raised lines above. Smooth bud-scales, silver white leaves folded within the bud.

The moosewood is a beautiful little tree at all times, but in winter when its large leaves have fallen and the wonderful coloring of its trunk and stems is no longer concealed by foliage, one can fully appreciate its color, delicate branches and smooth stems. The trunk is an exquisite shade of green, smooth, with occasional stripes of white, and the stems and buds are also smooth and a rich rose in color.

This tree is too small for practical use, but its æsthetic qualities should cause it to be more generally planted in our parks and gardens than it is.

The name moosewood was given to it by the country people in Maine, as the moose in the woods invariably strip it for the sweet juice in the tender young shoots in winter, when there is little for them to eat.

The Latin name Acer pennsylvanicum—Pennsylvanian maple—was given to it by Linnæus.

The moosewood is found throughout the North Atlantic States growing in rich woods under taller trees.

Acer spicatum]

This is a shrub about eight feet high, found commonly in the mountains and hills of New England, and like the moosewood seldom found growing out of the forest. It is easily distinguished by its gray bark and pink stems covered with a delicate gray bloom, and the clusters of dried fruit left hanging on the stems.