Acer pseudo-Platanus (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Aceraceae
Maples (general description first)
---Habitat---The Maples, belonging to
the genus Acer, natural order Aceraceae, are for the most part
trees, inhabitants of the temperate regions of the Northern
Hemisphere, particularly North America, Northern India and Japan.
---Description---The
leaves are long-stalked, placed opposite to one another, and
palmately lobed; the flowers, in fascicles appearing before the
leaves as in the Norway Maple, or in racemes appearing with, or
later than, the leaves as in the Sycamore Some of the flowers are
often imperfect.
The dry fruit, termed a 'samara,' is
composed of two one-seeded cells, furnished with wings, which divide
when ripe, the winged seeds being borne by the wind to a
considerable distance.
The leaves of the Maples commonly
exhibit varnish-like smears, of sticky consistence, known as
honey-dew. This is the excretion of the aphides which live on the
leaves; the insect bores holes into the tissues, sucks their juices
and ejects a drop of honeydew, on an average once in half an hour.
In passing under a tree infested with aphides the drops can be felt
like a fine rain. The fluid is rich in sugar. When the dew falls,
the honey-dew takes it up and spreads over the leaf; later in the
day evaporation reduces it to the state of a varnish on the leaf
surface, which aids in checking transpiration. Many other trees
exhibit this phenomenon, e.g. lime, beech, oak, etc.
Most of the Maples yield a saccharine
juice from the trunk, branches and leaves. The wood of almost all
the species is useful for many purposes, especially to the
cabinetmaker, the turner and the musical instrument-maker, and for
the manufacture of alkali the Maples of North America are of great
value.
Many species with finely-cut or
variegated leaves have been introduced, especially from Japan, as
ornamental shrubs, most of them remarkable for the coppery-purple
tint that pervades the leaves and younger growths.
The Common Maple (Acer campestre,
Linn.) is the only species indigenous to Great Britain. This and the
Sycamore, or Great Maple, were described by Gerard in 1597, the
latter as 'a stranger to England.'
Acer pseudo-Platanus (Linn.), the
Sycamore or Great Maple (the Plane-tree of the Scotch), grows wild
in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy. It is remarkably hardy
and will grow with an erect stem, exposed to the highest winds or to
the sea-breezes, which it withstands better than most timber trees,
being often planted near farmhouses and cottages in exposed
localities for the sake of its dense foliage.
---Description---It is a handsome
tree, of quick growth, attaining a height of 50 or 60 feet in 50
years. Though not a native, it has been cultivated here for four or
five centuries, and has become so naturalized that self-sown
examples are common.
The timber was formerly much used by
the turner for cups, bowls and pattern blocks; and is still in
repute by the saddlemakers and the millwright, being soft, light and
tough.
In spring and autumn, if the trunk is
pierced, it yields an abundance of juice, from which a good wine has
been made in the Highlands of Scotland. Sugar is to a certain extent
procured from it by evaporation, but 1 ounce to 1 quart of sap is
the largest amount of sugar obtainable.
The leaves may be dried and given to
sheep in winter.
The lobed shape of its leaf and its
dense foliage caused it to be confounded with the True Sycamore (Ficus
sycamorus) of Scripture.
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Reprinted from "A
Modern Herbal" (1931)
Mrs. M. Grieve, Edited by Mrs. C.F. Leyel
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