Aceraceae

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Read about Aceraceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Aceraceae (from the genus Acer, the classical name of the maples, from the Celtic meaning hard). Maple Family. Fig.35. Trees or shrubs: leaves opposite, exstipulate, simple or compound: flowers mostly unisexual, often bisexual ones intermixed, regular; sepals 4-5, separate or somewhat connate, imbricated: petals 4-5, or 0, imbricated; disk either extra-staminal or intrastaminal, usually flat, and sometimes lobed or divided; stamens 4-10, mostly 8, separate, inserted at the edge of the disk; ovary superior 2-celled, 2-lobed, much flattened contrary to the partition; style 1; stigmas 2: fruit splitting into two portions, each a samara; seeds 2 in each cell, exalbuminous. There are 2 genera and about 110 species; all but 1 belong to the genus Acer. They are mostly natives of mountainous or upland countries of the northern hemisphere. Some fossil species have been discovered. The Aceraceae are closely related to the Sapindaceae, with which they were formerly united, and from which they differ in the opposite, usually palmate leaves, the peculiar fruit, and regular flowers. In position, the disk shows a transition between the Sapindaceae and other families. The family is easily recognized by the opposite, exstipulate leaves, and peculiar fruit. The wood of Acer saccharum (sugar maple, hard maple) is of great value for timber. Bird's-eye maple and curly maple are forms of this species in which the growth of the cambium is irregular. The manufacture of sugar from the sap of the sugar maple is an important industry in the northern states in early spring. The sycamore of England is Acer pseudoplatanus; that of America is a species of Platanus. The juice of Acer platanoides (Norway maple), and probably of others, is milky. Forty or more species of Acer (maple) are in cultivation in N. America for ornamental purposes. Acer Negundo (box elder) is exceptional in having compound leaves. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

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