If you meet a tree of good size, with slender branches, and small buds
set opposite upon the twigs, you may suspect it of being a maple. The
leaves are needed to assure you. If it is winter time, and the tree
stands on the street, the leaves may all have been raked away. If the
tree grows in the woods, the chances are that there is a leaf carpet over
its roots, and that most of these leaves have fallen from its branches.
You can make sure of this point by picking up a dead leaf, examining the
base of its stalk to see if it fits the leaf scars on the twigs. If the
leaves are simple, that is, if they have a single blade, the evidence
that this is a maple is very strong. There are a few small trees with
simple leaves set opposite on the twigs, but they do not grow as large as
maples.
Does the leaf have three main divisions, each with a vein which is one of
three large branches of the leaf stalk? Then you may be sure that the
tree is one of the maple family.
Simple leaves, of three main lobes, set opposite on the twigs, and the
twigs set opposite on the branches,—in these are the plain signature of
the maples. They write their names in these characters, across every
branch throughout the growing season, and on the leafless branches, and
the dead leaves under the tree in winter. Another signature is the
one-sided maple key, which hangs on the trees all summer, and even late
into the winter on some kinds, but is shed in early summer by a few.
The two early-blooming maples are commonly planted as street and shade
trees all over the Eastern half of the country. It is easy to recognise
these, and to know them apart by the leaf alone.
The red maple is a spreading, symmetrical tree, of medium size with
slender, erect branches. The leaves are red when they open in spring; so
are the flowers which cluster on the bare twigs in early April, before
the leaves are out. The clustered fruits that dangle in pairs all along
the stems in May are red, and in the autumn the tree changes its green
robe of foliage to scarlet before winter comes. The buds that cluster at
the joints are red as rubies, and the slim twigs glow with the same warm
colour, which is warmer by contrast with the snow.
All maple leaves are more or less cleft into three main divisions. The
red maple has two shallow clefts, V-shaped, at the top, and the lobes are
pointed and triangular. The margins are irregularly saw-toothed. These
leaves are often downy beneath, and always white-lined when young. In
summer they have pale green linings. As a rule, red maple leaves are
small, averaging less than three inches in the length of their blades.
They are larger on young trees.
The silver maple is much more easily grown from seed than the red maple,
but it has a far more irregular tree top. The limbs branch low on the
trunk, and these limbs grow very long, giving the tree a loose head of
great height, and great horizontal spread. The small branches curve
downward, and the twigs are held erect. The wind twists and breaks these
great weak limbs, or wrenches them loose from the trunk. It is dangerous
to have these trees near the house, for wind and ice storms are
constantly snapping off branches large enough to break windows, or knock
down chimneys as they fall.
[Illustration: The flowers of the red maple are concealed in winter in
brown buds]
[Illustration: Seeds of red maple, in late May, and in early April]
The flowers of the silver maple show no red. They come out
greenish-yellow on the twigs when the red maple’s flowers are glowing on
their red twigs in March, and early April. The leaves are pale green,
white beneath, and set on long flexible stems. They are larger than the
leaves of the red maple, and cleft in a distinctly different way. A
narrow, deep fissure divides the leaf in thirds, and two side clefts
divide the lower lobes in two unequal halves. These fissures reach
two-thirds of the way through the leaf blade, and each lobe is cleft
along its sides, into many irregular bays and capes. These leaves are
always silvery white beneath in summer, and they turn to yellow in the
autumn.
In late May the pairs of winged keys hang on short stems. Each key is
about two inches long, fuzzy green, until ripe, twice the length of the
smooth keys of the red maple, which are ripening at the same time.
It is good fun to lie under a maple tree, and watch the seeds as they
fall. If the wind is strong, they shower down like rain. Each key
separates from its mate, and as it lets go its hold on the twig, the wind
catches its thin wing, and sends it whirling round and round. The heavy
seed makes for the earth, while the flat blade above it acts as a
parachute, or a sail, to keep it in the air.
How far does a silver maple send its seeds in these summer days, when
they are falling? It is easy to answer this question by pacing the
distance from the tree trunk in a straight line to the point where the
farthest key falls. Go in the direction towards which the wind is
blowing, in determining this distance. It will be interesting to run out
another line from the tree trunk to find out how far the seeds are thrown
on the side that is against the wind.
From the silver maple go to a red maple, and watch the harvest of these
small-winged keys. Do a little measuring here, and find out if their
smaller size and weight enables these seeds to sail further in the same
breeze than those of the silver maple.
The sugar maple is known also as the rock or hard maple, because its wood
is harder, and therefore slower to grow, than the two quick-growing soft
maples just described. This is the one whose trunk is tapped in spring,
and the sap boiled down in great kettles over an open fire in the woods.
When the water is all evaporated, solid cakes of maple sugar remain. If
you are walking in the woods in winter, and come upon any trees bored
with small auger holes, several near the base of each trunk, you may
suspect that this is a grove of hard maples which the New England farmer
calls his “sugar bush.”
Look at the twigs, and you will see that the plump round buds are set
opposite, and the twigs are opposite on the branch. This is the way with
all maple trees. Are the branches many, and do they shoot upward rather
than outward, and form an oval head? This is the typical habit of young
hard maple trees. As they grow older the heavy lower limbs become
horizontal. They are clean, hardy, vigorous trees, long-lived,
dependable, able to meet the storms, and to suffer the theft of their
rich sap every spring without apparent loss of strength and vitality.
The leaves come out later than those of the soft maples. They are firm,
and broad, with five pointed lobes between wide fissures that reach
half-way to the stem. Margins of these lobes are wavy, never saw-toothed,
like those of the silver maple. They are dark green above, with paler
linings. In autumn they turn to yellow, orange, and red.
The flowers open in May, shortly after the leaves appear. They are in
thick, hairy, yellowish clusters. Some are pistillate, some staminate, in
the same cluster. Those with the forked pistils remain and grow into
smooth fruits towards the end of summer. The keys of sugar maples are
short-winged, like those of the red maple, but have stouter, thicker
seeds. They are shed in late autumn and early winter.
Hard maples are among the best of shade trees, and the glory of their
autumn colouring makes them one of the most to be desired among trees
planted merely for ornament. A street planted to hard maples is well
planted always. But people are impatient for trees to grow up. The slow
growth of the sugar maple is discouraging. It is a good plan to plant the
quick-growing soft maples, and alternate with them the slow-growing
species. For a few years the soft maples are pretty, and with each year’s
growth they give more abundant shade. By the time the wind has crippled
their long arms, and made the trees unsightly, the hard maples are coming
on to take their places, and they need the room which is given them by
the removal of their neighbours on to the left and right.
When I went into the woods of Oregon, I found the vine maple trees, which
seems not to have sufficient backbone to stand upright. These trees start
to grow erect, but their weight soon overcomes their strength, and they
droop, but keep on growing, with their limbs prostrate on the ground. The
wet land in many places was covered with a network of the interfering
branches of these serpentine maple trees.
The leaf is about the size of the palm of my hand, and almost circular.
The border is cut into many shallow lobes. The seeds are characteristic
keys, smooth, and the wings of each pair are spread almost opposite each
other.
The Norway maple is a most popular street tree. Its foliage is very
dense, and the tree forms a round, symmetrical head. The broad,
five-lobed leaves are remotely toothed, smooth, thin, and dark green on
both sides. Break a leaf stem, and a milky juice appears. The seeds are
very flat, and have broad, flaring wings. The flowers are yellowish.
Great clusters of them come out with the leaves. The seeds are ripe in
autumn.
We shall find that the foliage of the Norway maple stands the wear and
tear better than that of many shade trees. The crown of a Norway maple
turns to bright gold in autumn, and most of the leaves are still unmarred
when they fall.
The box elder is the one native maple which has compound leaves. The leaf
blade is cleft quite to the stem, and the thirds form separate leaflets,
each mounted on its own stalk. These leaves are set opposite on the
twigs, like those of other maples.
In spring pink fringes like corn silk decorate the branches of certain
box elder trees. Other trees of the same kind hide little green flowers
among the opening leaves. The pink fringes are the pollen-bearing
flowers, which fall when ripe. Staminate trees never bear fruit. All
through the summer the trees which bore the greenish flower are dangling
clusters of pale green seeds, each with the peculiar wing, which proves
it a maple. When the ragged, yellowing foliage falls, these seed clusters
remain on the branches, and all through the winter the wind is plucking
and carrying them away.
The wood of box elder is very soft. The tree is planted because it grows
so quickly and surely, and its seeds are so easily obtained. But broken
branches give the older trees a crippled, unhappy look, and the ragged
clusters of seeds give them a disheveled appearance all winter. Fortunate
is the man who has planted elms or hard maples along the road, so that he
may take out the decrepit box elders, and have the better trees coming on
to take their places.
The striped maple is a little tree, which hides in the woods, and only a
few people know the tree, and love it as it deserves. The stripes are on
its smooth green bark, which breaks into a network of furrows as the
stems increase in diameter. These furrows expose a very pale under-bark,
so that at a short distance the trunk seems to be delicately traced with
white lines.
In its blossoming season the striped maple has a loose, drooping cluster
of yellow, bell-like flowers. The leaves that surround them are broad and
shallowly three-lobed, and saw-toothed all around. The seeds are little
maple keys, smaller than those of the red maple.
The mountain maple is another little tree quite as modest and retiring as
its striped cousin. It has longer, more taper-pointed leaves. The flower
clusters are much smaller than those of the striped maple, and they stand
erect. The fruits hang late in the winter, on the grey downy twigs, which
are brightened by red buds.