Part 51

=Acer saccharum nigrum=, (Michx. f.) Britt.

=Form=.—Height 75-90 feet, diameter 2-3½ feet; trunk and crown as in sugar maple.

=Leaves=.—Opposite, simple, 5-6 inches long, wider than long, 3-5-lobed, the lower lobes often reduced to a shallow rounded tooth, thick and firm, green and usually downy beneath.

=Flowers=.—May, with the leaves; monoecious, arranged in umbel-like corymbs, yellow, on slender, hairy pedicels.

=Fruit=.—Matures in autumn; paired samaras clustered on drooping pedicels, wings slightly diverging.

=Bark=.—Usually very dark gray, furrowed deeply.

=Wood=.—Hard, heavy, strong, close-grained, light yellow or brownish, with thin, lighter sapwood.

=Range=.—Quebec and western New Hampshire, southward and westward.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Less common than sugar maple, but often growing with it on low ground. Observed in the following counties: Lewis, Monongalia, Randolph, Tyler, Upshur, Webster and Wetzel.

=Habitat=.—Moist soil of river bottoms and slopes.

=Notes=.—This tree, which is classed as a sub-species of the common sugar maple, can scarcely be distinguished from the latter, except by the leaves which are thicker, usually dropping, less deeply lobed and slightly hairy beneath.

SILVER MAPLE

=Acer saccharinum=, L.

=Form=.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 2-4 feet; trunk usually short and soon divided into several large, ascending branches which subdivide and form a large open, rounded, or vase-shaped crown.

=Leaves=.—Opposite, simple, 3-6 inches long, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes cut and toothed, sinuses deep, light green above, silvery-white beneath, downy when young, petioles long and slender.

=Flowers=.—March-April; polygamo-monoecious or dioecious, yellow-green in crowded umbels.

=Fruit=.—Matures in May; large paired samaras, with wings 1-2 inches long.

=Bark=.—On old trunks roughened by shallow fissures and flat-topped ridges with thin, loose scales.

=Wood=.—Medium hard, brittle, close-grained, not durable, light brown, with thick whitish sapwood.

=Range=.—New Brunswick to Florida, and west to Indian Territory.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Common along the following streams: Potomac River and its larger tributaries, Great Kanawha, New, Elk, Little Coal, Big Sandy, Little Kanawha, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers.

=Habitat=.—Confined to river banks and swamp borders.

=Notes=.—This species, also known as White Maple, River Maple, and Soft Maple, is one of the less valuable of the genus. Its lumber is used principally for flooring, cheap furniture and paper pulp. Silver Maple is extensively planted along streets and in parks. It grows rapidly, often becoming too large, and has a less perfect crown than some of the other maples.

RED MAPLE

=Acer rubrum=, L.

=Form=.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 1-3½ feet; trunk usually more or less inclined or twisted; crown rather narrow and rounded.

=Leaves=.—Opposite, simple, 3-4 inches long, about as broad, lobes 3-5, coarsely toothed, green and glabrous above, whitish beneath.

=Flowers=.—March-April; polygamo-monoecious, or dioecious; in few-flowered clusters on shoots of the previous year; petals linear-oblong, red or orange.