THE MAPLES - DECIDUOUS TREES WITH WINGED SEEDS.
A single genus, aver, includes from sixty to seventy species, widely distributed over the Northern Hemisphere. A single species goes south of the equator, to the mountains of Java. All produce pale close-grained, fairly hard wood, valued in turnery and for the interior finish of houses. The clear sap of some American species is made into maple sugar.
The signs by which we may know a member of the maple family are two: opposite, simple leaves, palmately veined and lobed; and fruits in the form of paired samaras, com pressed and drawn out into large thin wings. No amount
of improvement changes these family traits. No other tree has both leaves and fruits like a maple's.
The distribution of genus acer is interesting. The origi nal home of the family is in the Far East. In China and Japan we may reckon up about thirty indigo maples, while only nine are native to North America. Of these, five are in the eastern half of the continent, three in the West, and one grows indifferently on both sides of the Great Divide.