ranch.

=Acer spicatum, Lam.=

MOUNTAIN MAPLE.

=Habitat and Range.=--In damp forests, rocky highland woods, along the
sides of mountain brooks at altitudes of 500-1000 feet.

From Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to Saskatchewan.

Maine,--common, especially northward in the forests; New Hampshire and
Vermont,--common; Massachusetts,--rather common in western and central
sections, occasional eastward; Rhode Island,--occasional northward;
Connecticut,--occasional in northern and central sections; reported as
far south as North Branford (New Haven county).

Along mountain ranges to Georgia.

=Habit.=--Mostly a shrub, but occasionally attaining a height of 25
feet, with a diameter, near the ground, of 6-8 inches; characterized by
a short, straight trunk and slender branches; bright green foliage
turning a rich red in autumn, and long-stemmed, erect racemes of
delicate flowers, drooping at length beneath the weight of the maturing
keys.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk thin, smoothish, grayish-brown; primary branches
gray; branchlets reddish-brown streaked with green, retaining in the
second year traces of pubescence; season's shoots yellowish-green,
reddish on the upper side when exposed to the sun, minutely pubescent.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, flattish, acute, slightly
divergent from the stem. Leaves simple, opposite, 4-5 inches long,
two-thirds as wide, pubescent on both sides when unfolding, at length
glabrous on the upper surface, 3-lobed above the center, often with two
small additional lobes at the base, coarsely or finely serrate, lobes
acuminate; base more or less heart-shaped; veining 3-5-nerved,
prominent, especially on the lower side, furrowed above; leafstalks
long, enlarged at the base.

=Inflorescence.=--June. Appearing after the expansion of the leaves, in
long-stemmed, terminal, more or less panicled, erect or slightly
drooping racemes; flowers small and numerous, both kinds in the same
raceme, the fertile near the base; all upon very slender pedicels; lobes
of calyx 5, greenish, downy, about half as long as the alternating
linear petals; stamens usually 8, in the sterile flower nearly as long
as the petals, in the fertile much shorter; pistil rudimentary, hairy in
the sterile flower; in the fertile the ovary is surmounted by an erect
style with short-lobed stigma.

=Fruit.=--In long racemes, drooping or pendent; the keys, which are
smaller than those of any other American maple,