MAPLE, Aar, a genus of exogenous trees of the natural order aceracece. This order contains more than sixty species, natives of the temperate parts of the northern hemi sphere, and particularly numerous in North America and the n. of India. They have.
opposite leaves without stipules, usually lobed or palmate. The flowers are in axillary corymbs or racemes, small, but abounding in honey, and very attractive to bees. The calyx is generally divided into five segments; the petals, when present, equal in number to the segments of the calyx, grow from the margin of a fleshy, hypogynous disk. The fruit is formed of two small winged nuts, each with one or two seeds. With few excep tions, the genus acer includes the whole order.—The MAPLE (A. campestre), small tree, is a native of Britain, aud of many parts of. Europe and Asia. The leaves. are small, and usually five-lobed; the wood is compact, fine-grained, takes a high polish, and is much used by turners and for carved work. Several nearly allied species are found in the s. of Europe.—The STRIPED BARK MAPLE (A. striatum) of North America, where it often forms great part of the. undergrowth in woods, is renaarkable for longi tudinal black and white stripes on its bark; and its wood, which is very white, is used. for inlaying in cabinet-work.—The GREATER MAPLE or SYCAMORE (A. pseudo-platanus), commonly called plane-tree in Scotland, is a native of various parts of Europe, but a. doubtful native of Britain, in which, however, it has long been common. It attains a height of 70 to 90 ft., has a spreading umbrageous head, and large, palrnate, coarsely serrated leaves on long stalks. It is of quick growth, and succeeds well near the sea, and in other exposed situations. The wood is white, compact, and firm; not hard, but capable of a fine polish; and is used by wheelwrights, turners, etc. It is not apt to warp. Stair-rails are often made of it, and pattern-blocks for manufactories, as well as bowls, bread-plates, etc. Sug,ar is sometimes made from the sap of this tree, as from that of several other maples; but the species which yields it most abundantly is the Suosa, MAPLE (A. saccharinum) of North America, a species which much resembles the syca
more, and abounds in the northern parts of the United States and in the British posses sions, where large quantities of sugar are made from it, although only for domestic use. The trunk of the sugar maple is generally more slender than that of the sycamore. To, obtain sugar, holes are bored in the truuk when the sap is ascending, early in spring, before the winter frost has passed away, in an obliquely ascending direction, at no great distance from the ground, at first only to the depth of half an inch, but afterwards deepened to 2 in.; and the sap thus collected is evaporated in boilers over a brisk fire, to the consistency of syrup, strained and poured into molds, in which it crystallizes into. a coarse gray or brown colored sugar. It is sometimes afterwards refilled. Four gal lons of sap yield about 1 lb. of sugar. A single tree yields from 2 to 6 lbs. in a season. During the sugar-making season, sheds are erected in the woods for the boiling and other processes of the manufacture. The sap cannot be kept long after being collected. Good vinegar is made from it, and a kind of molasses much superior to that from the sugar-cane, and much used in America with buckwheat cakes, etc. The wood of the sugar maple has a satiny appearance, and is used for cabinet-making; it is sometimes finely marked with undulations of fiber, and is then known as bird's-eye maple, and is used for veneers. The cultivation of the sugar maple in Europe, for the sake of its. sugar, has of late been much advocated. It is not so hardy in the climate of Britaire as the sycamore, and seems to require a dry and sheltered situation.—The NORWAY MAPLE (A. platanoides) is a native of the n. of Europe, although not of Britain, and is. also found in North America. It much resembles the sycamore. and its wood is used. for the same purposes. It is pretty common in plantations in Britain.—A Himalayan, species (A. villosum), a noble tree, found with pines and birches of great elevations, has recently been introduced into Britain.