6. Pistillate flower, enlarged.
7. Fruit, × 1.
ACERACEAE
Mountain Maple
Acer spicatum Lam.
HABIT.—A bushy tree sometimes 25-30 feet high, with a short trunk 6-8 inches in diameter; small, upright branches form a small, rounded crown. More often a straggling shrub.
LEAVES.—Opposite, simple, 4-5 inches long and two-thirds as broad; 3-lobed above the middle, the lobes coarsely crenate-serrate with pointed teeth, the sinuses usually wide-angled and acute at the base; thin; glabrous, dark green above, covered with a whitish down beneath, turning scarlet and orange in autumn; veining prominent; petioles long, slender, with enlarged base.
FLOWERS.—June, after the leaves are full grown; polygamo-monoecious; small, yellow-green; in erect, slightly compound, many-flowered, long-stemmed, terminal racemes; calyx downy, 5-lobed; petals 5; stamens 7-8; ovary tomentose.
FRUIT.—July; bright red, turning brown in late autumn; small, glabrous, paired samaras, in pendulous, racemose clusters.