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.
| 1. Winter buds. |
| 2. Flowering branch. |
| 3. Sterile flower. |
| 4. Fertile flower with part of the perianth removed. |
| 5. Fruiting branch. |