Derivation. The specific appellation of Oʻpalus has been given to this species, probably from the thick opal-like aspect of the leaves.

Engravings. Baudril. Traité, &c., vol. 5. p. 13.; our fig. 126. in p. 453.; and the plate of this species in our Second Volume.

Flowers

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves more or less heart-shaped, roundish, 5-lobed, smooth beneath; the lobes generally obtuse, and coarsely serrated. in drooping corymbs. Keys smooth. (Pen. Cyc.) A tree, a native of Corsica; from which country it was brought to Paris by M. Richard, and thence to England, in 1752. It is described by Baudillart as a branchy tufted tree, covered with smooth leaves, somewhat coriaceous, roundish, indented, with five blunt lobes, deep green on the upper surface, and somewhat glaucous underneath, with long red petioles. Its flowers are whitish, in short racemes; and the sinall fruits, or keys, which succeed them, are almost round. It found in forests and on mountains in Corsica, and in Italy; where, from the denseness of its shade, it is sometimes planted by road sides, and in gardens near houses. The red colour of the petioles, of the leaves, of the fruits, and even the red tinge of the leaves themselves, more especially in autumn, give it rather a morbid appearance. It pushes later in the spring than most of the other species. The wood is veined, and very close: in Italy, it is used for gun-stocks; and the roots, especially of those trees which have been often cut down, are very much sought after on account of their hardness, and their curious knots and blotches, which render them suitable for making snuff-boxes, and for inlaid work. Variety. A. coriaceum, in the arboretum of the Messrs. Loddiges, seems to be a variety of this species; but A. opulifòlium, No. 14, as described by Baudrillart, seems quite distinct from it.

Statistics. There is a plant of this species in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, which answers perfectly to M. Baudrillart's description. The largest tree in the neighbourhood of London, bearing the name of A. O'palus, is at Fulham Palace; where, in 25 years, it has attained the height of 35 ft.; in Sussex, at Langham Park, 9 years planted, it is 20 ft. high; in Staffordshire, at Trentham, 12 years planted, it is 7 ft. high; in Yorkshire, at Grimston, 12 years planted, 24 ft. high; in Scotland, in the garden of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, Edinburgh, 8 years planted, and 12 ft. high; at Hopeton House, 18 years planted, and 18 ft. high; in Argyllshire, at Toward Castle, there is a tree, which is said to be considered A`cer O'palus by Dr. Hooker, which is no less than 50 ft. high, and girts 4 ft. at 1 ft. from the ground. In France, in the Jardin des Plantes, 30 years planted, and 34 ft. high; in the Botanic Garden at Toulon, 40 years planted, and 30 ft. high. In Bel. gium, in the Botanic Garden at Ghent, 13 ft. high. In Hanover, at Schwöbber, 80 ft. high (most probably some other species, ? A. obtusatum); in Saxony, at Wörlitz, 23 ft. high. In Austria, in Rosenthal's Nursery, at Vienna, 16 years planted, and 12 ft, high,

Commercial Statistics. Price, in London, from 1s. to Is. 6d. a plant; and at Bollwyller, 1 franc.

12. A. OPULIFO`LIUM Vill. The Guelder-Rose-leaved Maple.

Identification. Vill. Dauph., 4. p. 802.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 649.

Synonymes. A. hispánicum Pour. Act. Toul., 3. p. 305.; A. vérnum Reyn.; A. montànum C. Bauhin, Pin., 431.; E'rable duret, or E'rable à Feuilles d'Obier, and Ayart in Dauphiné, Fr.; Schneeboll-blättriger Ahorn, Ger.

Engraving. Tratt. Arch., 1. No. 13.; and the plate of this species, in our Second Volume. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves cordate, roundish, 5-lobed. Lobes obtuse, bluntly and coarsely toothed. Corymbs almost sessile. Ovaries and fruit smooth, with wings rather diverging. (Don's Mill., i. p. 649.) According to Dr. Lindley, in the Pen. Cyc., this kind is the same as A. O'palus; but, according to Baudrillart, it is quite distinct. Its height, the latter says, is from 20 ft. to 25 ft. or 30 ft. It grows naturally in the French Alps, and on the Pyrenees. Its bark is grey; its leaves have 5 lobes, somewhat rounded, a little toothed, and greener above than below. It flowers are in drooping racemes; its fruits are swelled out, and their wings spreading; so much so as to form almost a straight line, like those of A. platanoides. It is common on the rocks of Mount Jura; and is considered preferable to all the other maples for its wood, which is hard and compact, without sap-wood, not easily split, and so homogeneous in its texture, that it is almost impossible to distinguish in it the annual layers. It takes the finest polish; it is white, lightly shaded with lemon-colour, sometimes exhibiting flashes or shades of red, but not red veins. Completely dried, it weighs 52 lb. 11 oz. the cubic foot. In Bugly it is used by wheelwrights, and makes excellent naves to wheels.

"M. Maratray, inspector of forests in the department of Mount Jura, sent, in 1807, to the Administration of Forests in Paris, a specimen of this wood, which justified all that had been said of the fineness and homogeneousness of its grain. He also sent seeds, part of which came up the first year, and the remainder the year following. The plants have made tolerable progress; but it remains to be known, whether, in fertile soil, the tree will preserve the valuable quality of its wood." (Traité, &c., i. p. 51.) The plants have been distributed among the different government gardens of France; and particularly those of Versailles, under the direction of M. Bosc. At Bollwyller, there are plants of this species which, it is said, can be furnished of considerable size; and they are designated in the Catalogue," Acer opulifolium, non 4. O'palus;" price 1 franc 50 cents. There was a tree in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, in 1835, which differed somewhat from A. O'palus, and seemed to us intermediate between that species and A. barbàtum, or, as it was then marked, in 1835, 4. trilobàtum; but, whether it was the A. opulifolium of Villars and Baudrillart, we are unable to say.

13. A. CIRCINA TUM Pursh. The round-leaved Maple.

Identification. Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 267.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 595.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 651.
Engraving. Hook. Amer., t. 39.; and our fig. 112., and fig. 127. in p. 454.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves orbicular, rather cordate at the base, 7-lobed, smooth on both surfaces; lobes acutely toothed; nerves and veins hairy at their origins. (Don's Mill., i. p. 651.) A tree from 20 ft. to 40 ft. high.

Branches slender, pendulous, and crooked; often taking root, in the manner of those of many species of Ficus. Bark smooth, green when young, white when fully grown. Leaf the length of the finger, upon rather a short footstalk, membranaceous, heart-shaped, with 7—9lobes, and 7-9-nerves, smooth above, except hairs in the axils of the nerves; downy beneath, and in the axils of the nerves woolly: lobes ovate, acute, and acutely serrated; the sinuses acute; the nerves radiate from the tip of the petiole, and one extends to the tip of each lobe. Flowers (produced in April and May) of a middling size, in nodding corymbs, that are on long peduncles. (Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer.) This is a very marked and beautiful species; distinguishable, at sight, by the regular form of its leaves, and pale reddish green colour. Geography. On the great rapids of Columbia River. (Lewis, in Pursh's Fl. Am. Sept.) Common along the north-west coast of North America, between lat. 43° and 49°. (Douglas; D. Scouler.) A. circinàtum, like A. macrophyllum, is exclusively confined to the woody mountainous country that skirts the shores; and there, among the pine forests, it forms almost impenetrable thickets. (Douglas, in Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer., vol. i. p. 112.)

Properties and Uses. The wood is fine, white, and close-grained, very tough, and susceptible of a good polish. From the slender branches the native tribes make the hoops of their scoop-nets, which they employ for taking the salmon at the rapids, and in the contracted parts of the river.

Statistics. There is a plant of this species, in the London Horticultural Society's Garden, about 2 ft. high; and one at Messrs. Loddiges's about the same height. In Berkshire, at High Clere, there is a tree which has blossomed and ripened seeds.

14. A. PALMATUM Thunb. The palmate-leaved Maple. Identification. Thunb. Fl. Jap., p. 161.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 595.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 650. Engraving. Tratt. Arch., 1. No. 17.; and our fig. 128. in p. 455.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves smooth, palmately divided into 5-7-lobes beyond the middle; lobes acuminated, oblong, serrated. Umbels 5-7-flowered. (Don's Mill., i. p. 650.) A native of Japan, and introduced in 1832.

CHAP. XXII.

Branches and corolla purple. Fruit woolly. There are plants of this species in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, the leaves of which, as will be seen by our fig. 128., are strikingly distinct. The plants appear to be rather tender, and we would recommend them to be tried, in the first instance, against a wall.

15. A. ERIOCA'RPUM Michx. The hairy-fruited, or white, Maple. Identification. Michx. Fl. Amer. Bor., 2. p. 213.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 650.

Synonymes. A. dasycarpum Willd. Spec., 4. p. 985.; A. tomentosum Hort. Par.; A. glaucum
Marsh.; A. virginianum Duh.; A. rubrum Wagenh.; white, or soft, Maple, United States; Sir
Charles Wager's Maple; E'rable à Fruits cotonneux, or E'rable blanc, Fr.; rauher Ahorn, Ger.
Engraving. Desf. Ann. Mus., 7. t. 25.; Tratt. Arch., 1. No. 8.; our fig. 129. in p. 456.; and the plate
of this species in our Second Volume.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves truncate at the base, smooth and glaucous beneath,
palmately 5-lobed, with blunt recesses, and unequally and deeply toothed
lobes. Flowers conglomerate, on short pedicels, apetalous, pentandrous.
A large tree, with pale greenish
Ovaries downy. (Don's Mill., i. p. 650.)
yellow seeds, and flowers tinged with pale pink. They are produced in
April and May; and seeds are ripened by midsummer, from which plants
may be raised the same year. Introduced by Sir Charles Wager, in 1725.
Description. The trunk of the white maple is low, and divides itself into
other
a great number of limbs, so divergent, that Michaux says they form a head
any
more spacious, in proportion to the size of the trunk, than that of
The tree blooms early in the spring: its
tree with which he is acquainted.
flowers are small and sessile, with a downy ovarium. The fruit is larger than
that of any other species which grows east of the Mississippi. It consists of
two capsules joined at the base, each of which encloses one roundish seed,
and is terminated by a large, membranous, falciform wing. In Pennsylvania,
it is ripe about the 1st of May; and a month earlier on the Savannah river,
and in Georgia. At this period the leaves, which have attained half their
size, are very downy underneath: a month later, when fully grown, they are
perfectly smooth. They are opposite, and supported by long petioles; they
are divided by deep sinuses into 4 lobes, are toothed on the edges, of a bright
green on the upper surface, and of a beautiful white beneath. The foliage,
however, is scattered, and leaves an open thoroughfare to the sunbeams.
"The young leaves, and young germs, are very downy; but the old leaves,
and perfect fruit, are glabrous." (Hook, Fl. Amer., p. 114.) The wood of
this maple is very white, and of a fine grain; but it is softer and lighter than
that of the other species in the United States, and, from its want of strength
and durability, is little used. (Michaux, p. 215.) In the United States, as
well as in England, this species is often confounded with Acer rubrum,
which, in the leaves, it nearly resembles; but it differs in its inflated woolly
fruit, expressed in the terms eriocárpum and dasycarpum, and in its flowers,
which are produced in small compact axillary groups, and are almost, or
quite, sessile; while those of A. rùbrum are produced in axillary groups on
peduncles of irregular length (the shortest being about 1 in., and the longest
about 2 in.), and are succeeded by smooth compressed fruits.

Geography. A. eriocárpum, in the Atlantic parts of the United States, commences on the banks of Sandy River, in the district of Maine; and those of the Connecticut, near Windsor, in Vermont, are its most northern points. But, like many other trees, it is pinched by the rigorous winters of this latitude, and never reaches the size which it attains a few degrees farther south. It is found on the banks of all the rivers which flow from the mountains to the ocean; though it is less common along the streams which water the southern parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia. In no part of the United States is it more multiplied than in the western country; and nowhere is its vegetation more luxuriant than on the banks of the Ohio, and of the great rivers which empty themselves into it. There sometimes alone, and sometimes mingled with the willow, which is found along all these waters, it contributes singularly, by its magnificent foliage, to the embellishment of the The brilliant white of the leaves beneath forms a striking contrast

scene.

with the bright green above; and the alternate reflection of the two surfaces in the water heightens the beauty of this wonderful moving mirror, and aids in forming an enchanting picture; "which," says " Michaux, during my long excursions in a canoe in these regions of solitude and silence, I contemplated with unwearied admiration. Beginning at Pittsburg, and even some miles above the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, white maples, with trunks 12ft. or 15 ft. in circumference, are continually to be met with at short distances." (Michx, p. 213, 214.)

History. This tree was introduced by Sir Charles Wager, in 1725, and has since been in general cultivation. It was at first supposed to be a variety of A. rubrum; and, as such, is mentioned in Martyn's Miller. In the first edition of Du Hamel, the two sorts are described as distinct varieties; and their specific distinctions were afterwards pointed out by Desfontaines, in the Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, vol. vii. p. 412.; the principal distinction consisting in the fruit of A. eriocárpum being woolly, and that of A. rubrum being smooth. Both species are now in very general cultivation, throughout Europe, as ornamental trees.

Properties and Uses. In America, wooden bowls are sometimes made of the wood of this species, when that of the tulip tree cannot be procured. At Pittsburg, and in the neighbouring towns, it is used, in cabinet-making, instead of holly, and for inlaying furniture made of mahogany, cherry tree, and walnut; though it is not exactly suitable for this purpose, as it soon changes colour. The hatters of Pittsburg prefer the charcoal of this wood to every other for heating their boilers, as it affords a more uniform and durable heat than any other. Sugar is made from this species in districts where the tree abounds, but the produce is not above half that obtained from the sap of the sugar maple. The sap is in motion very early in this species, beginning to ascend about the 15th of January; so that, when sugar is made from it, the work of extracting it is sooner completed. The cellular integument rapidly produces a black precipitate with sulphate of iron. (Michaux.) In Europe, this tree is chiefly planted for ornamental purposes, for which it is admirably adapted by the rapidity of its growth, the graceful divergent direction of its branches, the beauty of its leaves, and the profusion of its early flowers. In mild seasons, such as the present spring of 1836, these flowers begin to burst from their buds in the first week in January; and they are often fully expanded by the end of February or beginning of March.

Soil, Situation, Propagation, &c. A. eriocárpum requires a deep free soil, and more moisture than most of the other species. Though it will not grow in swamps, yet it attains its greatest dimensions on the alluvial banks of rivers which are occasionally inundated. It ripens its seeds, both in America and Britain, by midsummer, or earlier; and, if these are immediately sown, they come up, and produce plants which are 8 in. or 10 in. high, by the succeeding autumn.

Statistics. The largest tree in the neighbourhood of London is at Kew, where, in 25 years, it has attained the height of 50 ft.; in Staffordshire, at Trentham, it is also 50 ft. high. Price of plants, in London, 1s. 6d. each; at Bollwyller, 1 franc; at New York, 25 cents, and seeds 1 dollar per quart.

16. A. RU`BRUM L. The red-flowering, or scarlet, Maple.

Identification. Lin. Spec. 1496.; Hayne Dend., p. 213; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 595.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 650. Synonymes. A. virginianum Herm. Par., t. 1., Mill. Ill., t. 8. f. 4., Trew. Sel., t. 85, 86.; A. coe. cineum Ait.; soft Maple, Swamp Maple, red Maple; E'rable rouge, Fr.; rother Ahorn, Ger. Engravings. Michx. Arb., 2. t. 14; Desf. Ann. Mus., 7. p. 413. t. 25.; Tratt. Arch., 1. No. 9; Schmidt. Arb., 1. t. 6.; Krause, t. 119.; our fig. 130, in p. 457.; and the plate of the tree in our Second Volume.

Spec. Char, &c. Leaves cordate at the base, glaucous beneath, deeply and unequally toothed, palmately 5-lobed, with acute recesses. Flowers conglomerate, 5-petaled, pentandrous. Ovaries smooth. (Don's Mill., i. p. 650.) A tree of the middle size, from North America in 1656, remarkable for its red flowers, which are produced in April and May. Varieties.

† A. r. 2 coccineum and † A. r. 3 intermèdium are varieties of this species,

differing so very little from it as hardly to be worth cultivation as distinct. The leaves of A. r. coccineum are somewhat redder in spring, when they expand, than those of A. rùbrum.

Description. In America, the red-flowering maple, Michaux observes, is the earliest tree, the bloom of which announces the return of spring; it is in flower, near New York, from the 10th to the 15th of April. The blossoms, which are of a beautiful purplish or deep red, unfold more than a fortnight before the leaves. They are aggregate, and situated at the extremity of the branches. The fruit is suspended by long flexible peduncles, and is of the same hue with the flowers; though it varies in size and in the intensity of its colouring, according to the exposure and dampness of the soil. The keys and the seeds are one half smaller than those of A. eriocárpum, and they ripen sooner. The leaves are also smaller than those of that species; but, in most other respects, they resemble them. They are glaucous and whitish underneath; and are palmated, or divided into 3 or 4 acuminate lobes, irregularly toothed. The extremities of this tree, which are formed by numerous twigs united at the base, have a remarkable appearance when garnished with flowers and seeds of a deep red, before vegetation has begun generally to revive. Before the redflowering maple exceeds 25 ft. or 30 ft. in height, and 7 in. or 8 in. in diameter, its bark is perfectly smooth, and marked with white blotches, by which it is easily distinguished. Afterwards, the trunk, like that of the white oak (Quercus álba) and sweet gum (Liquidámbar Styracíflua), becomes brown and chapped. In this tree, as in others which grow in wet places, the sapwood bears a large proportion to the heart-wood, if, indeed, the name of heartwood can properly be given to the irregular column, star-like in its horizontal section, which occupies the centre of large trunks, and which has points, from 1 in. to 3 in. in length, projecting into the sap-wood. (Michaux, p. 218, 219.) The wood weighs, when dry, 44 lb. per cubic foot. The tree only attains its full size in rich soils. Somewhat large forests of it in America, when their summits are covered with flowers, are said to present a very singular and grand appearance.

Geography. In America, towards the north, the red-flowering maple appears first, scantily, about Malebaye, in Canada, in 48° north latitude; but, in proceeding southward, it soon becomes more common, and abounds in Florida and Lower Louisiana. Of all the trees which flourish in grounds which are occasionally overflowed, this species is most multiplied in the middle and southern states. It occupies, in great part, the borders of the creeks, and abounds in all the swamps, which are often inundated, and always miry. In these situations it is accompanied by the black gum (Nýssa sylvatica), sweet gum (Liquidámbar Styraciflua), shellbark hickory (Càrya squamòsa), swamp white oak (Quercus Prìnus díscolor), black ash (Fraxinus sambucifòlia), and white ash (Fráxinus quadrangulàta). To these are added, in the Carolinas and Georgia, the small magnolia, or swamp bay (Magnòlia glaúca), the water oak (Quercus aquática), loblolly bay (Gordònia Lasiánthus), tupelo (Nýssa aquática), and the red bay (Laúrus carolinensis). It is a remarkable fact, that, west of the mountains, between Brownsville and Pittsburg, the redflowering maple is seen growing on elevated ground, with the oaks and the walnuts; but, in such situations, it does not attain such ample dimensions as in Pennsylvania and New Jersey: in these states exist extensive marshes, called maple swamps, exclusively covered with it; where it is found 70 ft. high, and 3 ft. or 4 ft. in diameter. (Michaux, p. 217, 218.) Elliot observes that, in "descending the mouths of our large rivers, the red maple is the last tree found in the swamps, the tree diminishing in size as the soil becomes impregnated with salt, until it dwindles down to a shrub, and, mingling with the candleberry myrtle (Myrica cerifera) and Baccharis halimifòlia, it finally disappears." (Hook, Fl. Bor. Amer., i. p. 114.)

History. This tree was cultivated by Mr. John Tradescant, jun., in 1656. It was for a long time confounded with A. eriocárpum. It is described, in the first edition of Du Hamel, as Acer flóribus rùbris; and A. eriocárpum, as Acer