The sugar maple on account of its slow growth has not been used much in
reforestation. It is very tolerant of shade, can adapt itself to almost
all kinds of soils, thrives either in a pure or mixed stand, and is
practically free from injury of insects and diseases. It has, however,
been extensively used as a shade tree. For this purpose it is scarcely
excelled by any other tree. When grown in the open it almost invariably
assumes a symmetrical oval form, and the autumnal coloration of its
foliage is rarely surpassed by any of our trees. Where a large tree is
desired for street or ornamental planting the sugar maple can safely be
recommended.
=5a. Acer saccharum= variety =Rugélii= (Pax) Rehder. This variety of the
sugar maple has leaves much wider than long, smaller and 3-lobed. The
lobes are long acuminate and usually entire, sometimes the lower lobe
has a small lobe near the base. This variety is included in our flora on
the authority of C. S. Sargent who has given this name to specimens from
Indiana in the writer's herbarium. The specimens so named are from the
southern part of the State. While there is a wide range of difference in
the shape of the leaves of the typical 5-lobed _Acer saccharum_ and its
variety _Rugelii_, all intermediate forms can be easily found. The
leaves of a tree will vary most on those trees whose average shaped
leaves are farthest from the typical form.
=5b. Acer saccharum= variety =Schnéckii= Rehder. This variety in its
extreme form is well marked by having the petioles and under surface of
the leaves densely covered with hairs. The variety is characterized by
having a "fulvous pubescence," but the 18 specimens at hand show the
color of the pubescence on both young and mature specimens to range from
white to fulvous. The leaves of all specimens at hand are 5-lobed and
show a variation of leaves with petioles and under surface of leaves
densely pubescent to those with petioles glabrous and with densely
pubescent under surface. The habitat is that of a dry soil and
associated with beech. It has been found in Gibson, Martin, Perry, Posey
and Vanderburgh counties.
=AESCULÀCEAE.= The Buckeye Family.
=AÉSCULUS.= The Buckeyes.
Trees with dark or ashy-gray colored bark; twigs stout; buds large,
leaves opposite, palmately divided into 5-9 ovate or oblong divisions,
the divisions serrate; flowers in terminal panicles; fruit a 3-lobed
capsule. The fruit is poisonous to stock, although it rarely proves
fatal.
Anthers protruding from the flower; fruit warty 1 A. glabra.
Anthers included in the flower; fruit smooth 2 A. octandra.
=1. Æsculus glàbra= Willdenow. Buckeye. Plate 116. Medium to large sized
trees[62]; bark of old trees fissured, not tight; branchlets robust;
twigs at first more or less pubescent, remaining more or less hairy
until maturity; leaves large, 5-foliate, rarely 6 or 7 foliate, petioles
more or less pubescent; leaflets sessile or on very short stalks,
ovate-oblong, oval-oblong, or obovate, about 1 dm. long, acuminate,
narrowed to a wedge-shaped base, more or less pubescent beneath until
maturity, especially along the principal veins, margins irregularly
serrate except near the base; flowers generally appear in May when the
leaves are almost full size, but in the southern part of the State the
flowers sometimes appear the last of March, flower clusters 1-1.5 dm.
long, the whole inflorescence usually densely covered with white hairs,
flowers pale-greenish yellow; fruit a globular spiny capsule, generally
3-6 cm. in diameter, which usually contains 1-3 large glossy
chocolate-colored nuts.
The pubescence on the petioles, leaflets and inflorescence is generally
white, but often with it are reddish and longer hairs which are
scattered among the other hairs, except in the articulations of the
flowers, pedicels and leaflets, where they appear in tufts.
=Distribution.=--Pennsylvania south to Alabama, west to Iowa and south
to the Indian Territory. Found in all parts of Indiana. It is usually
associated with beech, sugar maple and linn. On account of the poisonous
character of its fruit, land owners have almost exterminated it.
From the data at hand it appears that the buckeye was a rare tree in the
northern tier of counties. However, as soon as the basin of the Wabash
is reached it becomes a frequent to a common tree where beech, sugar
maple, and linn are found. In all of our area it prefers a rich moist
soil, except in the southern counties it may be found even on the bluffs
of streams with the species just named. In the lower Wabash Valley
especially in Posey County it was a rare tree, or entirely absent.
[Illustration: Plate 116.