Acer monspessulanum, and A. campestre. The Montpelier Maple, and the common, or field, Maple.

Leaves and fruit of the natural size.

A'cer créticum. The Cretan, or various-leaved, Maple.

Leaves from a

young tree in the garden of the London Hort. Soc.

GENUS II.

NEGUNDO Monch. THE NEGUNDO, or Box ELDER. Lin. Syst.
Dice cia Pentándria.

Identification. Moench. Meth, 334.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 596.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 647. and 651.
Synonymes. Acer Lin.; Negúndium Rafinesque,

Derivations. This genus was constituted from Acer Negundo L.; but the meaning of the latter word is unknown. Probably, it may be merely the Illinois name of Gigueres (from giguer, to romp, alluding to the tremulous and playful motion of the long pinnated leaves) Latinised.

Gen. Char. Sexes diœcious. Flowers without a corolla. Calyx with 4–5 unequal teeth. Male flowers upon thread-shaped pedicels, and disposed in fascicles: anthers 4-5 linear, sessile. Female flowers disposed in racemes. Leaves impari-pinnately divided. (Dec. Prod., i. p. 596.)

1. N. FRAXINIFOLIUM Nutt. The Ash-leaved Negundo.

Identification. Nutt. Gen. Amer., 1. p. 253.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 596.; Don's Mill, 1. p. 651. Synonymes. Acer Negundo L., Mich. Arb., Tratt. Arch.; N. aceröldes Manch; Negúndium americanum Rafin.; the Ash-leaved Maple, the Black Ash; E'rable à Feuilles de Fréne, Fr.; E'rable à Giguières, Illinois; Eschenblättriger Ahorn, Ger.

Engravings. Mich. Arb., 2. t. 16.; Tratt. Arch., 1. No. 10.; Schmidt, Arb., 1. t. 12.; Wats. Dend, t. 172.; E. of Pl., No. 14294; and the plate of this species in Vol. II. It is the female plant that is represented in these figures, except, perhaps, that of Trat. Arch., which we have not seen. Spec. Char. &c. Leaves of from 3 to 5 leaflets, the opposite ones coarsely and sparingly toothed, the odd one oftener three-lobed than simple. (Dec. Prod., i. p. 596.) A tree from North America, in 1688, growing to the height of 50 ft. or 60 ft., and flowering in April.

Variety.

N. f. 2 crispum G. Don. The curled-leaved Ash-leaved Negundo, or Box Elder.-Figured in our Second Volume. The plant of this variety in the arboretum of the London Horticultural Society is of the male sex the inflorescence consists of pendulous panicles of flowers, that are green, with some redness from the colour of the anthers; and each is placed upon a slender peduncle of about 1 in. long. Description. As far as is known, only the female plant of the species has, as yet, been introduced into England. The flowers are produced, profusely, about the middle of April, and appear with the leaves: they are green, small, and in slender pendulous racemes. The racemes of flowers are inconspicuous, so that the flowering of the tree may occur without being noticed, unless the tree be carefully watched at its flowering season. The racemes of fruits that succeed to the flowers, increasing gradually to the length of 6 in. or 7 in., become obvious as the season advances, and appear conspicuously among the foliage. The leaves are opposite, and are from 6 in. to 15 in. long, according to the vigour of the tree, and the moisture of the soil in which it grows. Each leaf is composed of two pairs of leaflets, with an odd one. The leaflets are petioled, oval-acuminate, and sharply toothed: towards autumn, the common petiole becomes of a deep red. The tree grows rapidly, arriving at maturity in 15 or 20 years; and in a suitable soil and situation, attains the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft.: it branches at a small distance from the ground, and forms a loose and wide-spreading head. The bark of its trunk is brown; and there is a disagreeable odour in the inner bark: that of the young branches is of a smooth rush-like appearance, interrupted by very few buds, and of a most beautiful pea-green, like the shoots of the common jessamine (Jasminum officinèle), but on a larger scale. The proportion of the sap-wood to the heart-wood is large, except in very old trees: in these the heart-wood is variegated with rose-coloured and bluish veins.