=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. [Illustration: 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. =Acer Negundo, L.= _Negundo aceroides, Moench. Negundo Negundo, Karst._ BOX ELDER. ASH-LEAVED MAPLE. =Habitat and Range.=--In deep, moist soil; river valleys and borders of swamps. Infrequent from eastern Ontario to Lake of the Woods; abundant from Manitoba westward to the Rocky mountains south of 55 deg. north latitude. Maine,--along the St. John and its tributaries, especially in the French villages, the commonest roadside tree, brought in from the wild state according to the people there; thoroughly established young trees, originating from planted specimens, in various parts of the state; New Hampshire,--occasional along the Connecticut, abundant at Walpole; extending northward as far as South Charlestown (W. F. Flint _in lit._); Vermont,--shores of the Winooski river and of Lake Champlain; Connecticut,--banks of the Housatonic river at New Milford, Cornwall Bridge, and Lime Rock station. South to Florida; west to the Rocky and Wahsatch mountains, reaching its greatest size in the river bottoms of the Ohio and its tributaries. =Habit.=--A small but handsome tree, 30-40 feet high, with a diameter of 1-2 feet. Trunk separating at a small height, occasionally a foot or two from the ground, into several wide-spreading branches, forming a broad, roundish, open head, characterized by lively green branchlets and foliage, delicate flowers and abundant, long, loose racemes of yellowish-green keys hanging till late autumn, the stems clinging throughout the winter.