Index    Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame, Henry Brooks

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.

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).

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, set on hair-like pedicels, and at a wide but not constant angle; at length reddish, with a small cavity upon one side.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy in cultivation throughout New England; prefers moist, well-drained, gravelly loam in partial shade, but grows well in any good soil; easily transplanted, but recovers its vigor rather slowly; foliage free from disease.

Seldom grown in nurseries, but readily obtainable from northern collectors of native plants.

Plate LXXV.—Acer spicatum.