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Trees, Shown to the Children

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<h2>PLATE X THE FIELD MAPLE</h2> There are many mistakes made in naming the Maple and Plane trees. The Sycamore or False Plane tree, the Oriental Plane, and the Field Maple are often called wrongly by each other’s names. So you must note carefully the differences between them. The Sycamore and the Field Maple are cousins, but the Oriental Plane is not even a distant relation of these, and only resembles them in the shape of its leaves. It is not really difficult to distinguish one from the other. The Field Maple (1) is nearly always a small tree which you find growing in the hedgerows, where it is more like a large bush than a tree. You rarely find it standing alone in a wide park, bearing great branches heavily clothed with leaves, as you find the Sycamore or Great Maple. In England it is a common hedgerow tree, but it is not native to Scotland and is seldom found there. Early in spring you find the long slender shoots covered with buds, from which burst small leaves of a beautiful bright crimson colour. These leaves (2) are toothed round the edges and are shaped like a hand with five short fingers; in the Field Maple the fingers are blunt at the points, not sharp as are those of the Sycamore and of the Oriental Plane. As the spring advances those pretty crimson leaves become dark green above and a light green on the under-side, and they lose the soft down which covered them, but even when fully out they are never so large as those of the Sycamore. When autumn draws near, with its cold winds and frosty nights, the Field Maple leaves change colour once more and become brilliant yellow; you will see them shining in the hedgerows like a bush of gold. Many of the leaves are disfigured by small red spots, and if you look at one of these spots with a magnifying-glass you will see that is caused by a tiny insect which has made this little red nest in which to lay its eggs. The leaves of the Field Maple, like those of the Sycamore, are placed opposite each other on the twig; in the Oriental Plane they grow alternately, one a little way above the other on opposite sides of the spray. There is a great deal of sugary juice in Maple leaves, and cattle love to eat them. In some countries they are stripped from the trees and kept for winter fodder for the cows. The bark of the Field Maple is noted for its strange corky nature and its curious growth. It grows in upright ridges, deeply furrowed, which look as if they could easily be broken off. In the Oriental Plane the bark is quite smooth, and it peels off in large flakes, leaving patches of different colours on the tree trunk. In April, when the leaves are still unfolding, the Field Maple brings out its spikes of flowers (3). You will at once notice that these flower clusters stand erect, and do not droop in pointed tassels like those of the Sycamore. Now, look at the flowers in an Oriental Plane, and you will discover that they bear no resemblance either to those of the Sycamore or of the Field Maple, with which it is often confused. They do not even grow in clusters, but in round, prickly balls which are threaded on a slender green chain. The flowers of the Field Maple are what botanists call “perfect flowers,” which means that each flower has all its parts complete within itself. In every bloom you will find five narrow green sepals and five narrow green petals; within the ring of petals stand eight yellow-headed stamens, and seated in the centre of the flower is a seed-vessel with a small wing at each side and with two curly horns standing up at the top. There is plenty of honey juice hidden among these stamens, and the bees buzz all day long around the Maple blossoms. As the season advances, the petals and sepals and stamens fall off, but the seed-vessel grows larger and larger, till you find bunches of winged seeds (4) standing erect where the flowers once grew. Notice that in this tree the seeds are close together beside the stalk, and that the wings stand straight out from the seeds and are not bent into the shape of the letter U, as they are in the Sycamore. These bunches of winged seeds are frequently tinged with bright crimson, and are very attractive among the glossy green leaves. In autumn the strong winds strip them from their stalks and the wings bear the seed far from the parent tree. Some botanists tell us that these seeds require to lie in the ground for more than a year before they begin to grow. <hr class="tb" /> Plate XI <ANTIMG src="images/i_081.jpg" alt="" /> THE SYCAMORE 1. Sycamore Tree2. Leaf Spray3. Fat Bud 4. Flower Spike5. Winged Fruit <hr class="tb" /> The Field Maple is full of sugary sap, but nothing is made of it in this country, as the trees do not yield enough to make it worth while. But in Canada the sap is drawn from the trees and made into sugar. I am sure you must have seen the brown blocks of Maple sugar in the confectioners’ windows. The wood of the Field Maple is too small to be of much use, but it is strangely and beautifully marked and veined with spots and stripes like the skin of a tiger or panther, and is eagerly bought for decorative purposes. The knots that grow on the roots were said to be worth their weight in gold, and in old history books you read that the thrones of great kings were made of Maple. Nowadays the wood is largely used for making small articles such as plates, and cups, and trays, and it can be cut so thin without breaking that the light may be seen through it. In France the long slender Maple shoots are used for coachmen’s whips. <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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