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

Acer Pennsylvanicum, L. Striped Maple. Moosewood. Whistlewood.

Habitat and Range.—Cool, rocky or sandy woods.

Maine,—abundant, especially northward in the forests; New Hampshire and Vermont,—common in highland woods; Massachusetts,—common in the western and central sections, rare towards the coast; Rhode Island,—frequent northward; Connecticut,—frequent, reported as far south as Cheshire (New Haven county).

Habit.—Shrub or small tree, 15-25 feet high, with a diameter at the ground of 5-8 inches; characterized by a slender, beautifully striate trunk and straight branches; by the roseate flush of the opening foliage, deepening later to a yellowish-green; and by the long, graceful, pendent racemes of yellowish flowers, succeeded by the abundant, drooping fruit.

Bark.—Bark of trunk and branches deep reddish-brown or dark green, conspicuously striped longitudinally with pale and blackish bands; roughish with light buff, irregular dots; the younger branches marked with oval leaf-scars and the linear scars of the leaf-scales; the season's shoots smooth, light green, mottled with black.

In spring the bark of the small branches is easily separable, giving rise to the name "whistle wood."

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Terminal bud long, short-stalked, obscurely 4-sided, tapering to a blunt tip; lateral buds small and flat; opening foliage roseate. Leaves simple, opposite; 5-6 inches long and nearly as broad; the upper leaves much narrower; when fully grown light green above, paler beneath, finally nearly glabrous, yellow in autumn, divided above the center into three deep acuminate lobes, finely, sharply, and usually doubly serrate; base heart-shaped, truncate, or rounded; leafstalks 1-3 inches long, grooved, the enlarged base including the leaf-buds of the next season.

Inflorescence.—In simple, drooping racemes, often 5-6 inches long, appearing after the leaves in late May or early June; the sterile and fertile flowers mostly in separate racemes on the same tree; the bell-shaped flowers on slender pedicels; petals and sepals greenish-yellow; sepals narrowly oblong, somewhat shorter than the obovate petals; stamens usually 8, shorter than the petals in the sterile flower, rudimentary in the fertile, the pistil abortive or none in the sterile flower, in the fertile terminating in a recurved stigma.

Fruit.—In long, drooping racemes of pale green keys, set at a wide but not uniform angle; distinguished from the other maples, except A. spicatum, by a small cavity in the side of each key; abundant; ripening in August.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy, under favorable conditions, throughout New England. Prefers a rich, moist soil near water, in shade; but grows well in almost any soil when once established, many young plants failing to start into vigorous growth. Occasionally grown by nurserymen, but more readily obtainable from northern collectors of native plants.

Plate LXXVI.—Acer Pennsylvanicum.