MAPLE (AS, mapol, mapul, iturpel, Ice).
mopurr, OlIG. mazzoltra, Ger. holder. maple). .1en•. A genii•; of trees of the natural order Aceracete, containing nearly 100 species. natives of north temperate regions. espe cially abundant in North America and Eastern Asia. They have opposite, lobed or palmate leaves without stipules: flowers in small axil Inry racemes or cnn•yiibs, rich in nectar, and at tractive to bees; fruits, two small winged nuts, one or two seeded. With a few exceptions the entire order is embraced in the genus Acer. The best-known European species are :leer cam pcstrc and deer Pseudo-Plutanus. The common maple (deer eampestre), a shrub or small tree seldom attaining a height of 50 feet, is a native of ninny parts of Europe and Asia. Its wood is hard, fine-grained, takes a high polish. and is much used by turners and for carved work. The greater maple, sycamore, or plane tree of Eu rope (Acct. Pscudo-Platanus) is extensively planted both in Europe and in America. It is a large tree with a spreading head, 70 to 00 feet tall, of rather quick, vigorous growth. Its wood, which is white, compact, moderately hard. re ceives a fine polish, and is much used by wheel wrights, turners, etc. Sugar is sometimes made from the sap.
The Norway maple (Accr p/«tanoides). a na tive of Europe. is commonly planted in the East ern United States and elsewhere as a shade tree.
It grows to a height of 100 feet, and has a com pact, round head, that renders the shade' very dense. It is by some preferred as a shade tree to the sugar maple. which it resembles. Among the American species perhaps the best known is the sugar maple ( deur sacehari au ), a large tree, 00-120 feet high, and found from New foundland to Georgia and west ward to the northern shores of the Great Lakes, eastern Ne braka, and Kansas. The wood has a satiny appearance and is extensively used in cabinet work and finishing houses. When the grain has a pronounced wavy appearance the wood is called bird's-eye maple. and is used as veneer. From the sap of this tree large quantities of syrup and sugar are made. To obtain the sap, holes are bored into the tree for half an inch or more when the sap is circulating freely in the late winter or early spring. The sap caught in vessels is evaporated until the residue becomes syrupy or until a yellowish or brown sugar is obtained.
Trees will yield from 2 to 6 pounds of sugar during a season, and if the tapping, as it is called, is properly done. the tree suffers little injury. The black maple (Are,. nigra , by some botanists considered identical with .te/r saccha rinum, is also an abundant producer of sugar. The tree is of similar habit and range to the former, and is distinguished from it by its black bark and generally duller appearance. By many it is considered only a variety. The silver maple (Jeer saecharinant, better IZnown as deer dasy earpum) is a large, rapidly growing species of the same range as the last. It is an ornamental tree, with light, brittle wood, and is extensively planted as a shade tree, but. aside from its rapid
growth, is not equal in this respect to the sugar maple. The tree is very hardy and easily grown, but on account of its brittleness is especially liable to damage by winds and storms breaking its limbs. This species was named deer ancebw rinana by Linmeus under the impression that it was the true sugar maple, a tree which it is now believed he never saw. Sugar is made from it, hut the sap is less sweet than that of either of the two species most commonly tapped. The striped maple (deer Pen nsyl ranieum ) is a small tree with greenish bark striped with white lines. Its compact habit of growth and large leaves make it, an excellent shade tree. The red or scarlet maple (A ccr 2-abeam) has about the same range as the sugar maple. It somewhat resembles the silver maple in habit, but is of slower growth. Its timber is valuable, and the spring coloring of the flowers and fruits and the autumn coloring of the leaves make it a very ornamental tree. The mountain maple ( deer spice tem), a small tree in the Eastern United States, the large toothed or Oregon maple (Ater grandidentata ), and the vine ma ple I A eel- circiana t ) of the Rocky .Mountains and Pacific Coast, arc other CO111111011 and species possessing the habits and uses described above. All of the species are valu able for fuel, in this respect exceeding all other woods except hickory in popular estimation. Of many of the species there are numerous culti vated varieties differing in their habit of growth, color and character of foliage, etc. The autumn coloring of the maples, especially in the United States, is not surpassed by any other group of trees. the reds and yellows of their leaves adding greatly to the beauty of the autumn landscape.
Among the species of Eastern Asia are a num ber that have been introduced into Western coun tries. and some have proved valuable foi• plant ing, such as the famous Japanese maples, most of which are varieties of .leer pal/natant and Japonieunt. They are mostly small trees or shrubs, and on account of their great variety in color and the deep and often curious lobing of their leaves, they are extensively planted as or namentals.
There is one group of _leer called the ash leaved maples, on account of their compound leaves, that is often separated under the generic name Negundo. There are representatives of this group in Japan and in the United States, the best known of which is _leer .\ egando (Iegundo accroiths), the box elder t The earliest fossil representatives of the genus Auer have been recognized by leaves and fruits from the Cretaceous rocks. In the Miocene Ter tiary beds the genus is abundantly represented. not only in the temperate regions, but also in the Arctic regions of North America and Europe. Some flowers of the maple have been found in the amber of the 1Ialtie region. The ash-leaved maple (A egando) is represented by fossil ances tors. very like the modern forms, in the Miocene beds of North America.