so handsome or well-shaped a tree as the one figured (Plate 186), from a photograph for which I am indebted to Mr. W.M. Christy, who tells me that this tree, growing at Watergate, near Emsworth, Hants, is no less than 14 feet 4 inches in girth at 4½ feet from the ground, the branches spreading over an area about 102 to 105 paces round.
Another very fine tree grows in a wood at Park Place near Henley-on-Thames, by the side of the drive from Templecombe, on loamy soil overlying chalk, and this in 1905 measured 80 feet by 9 feet 9 inches, with a bole about 12 feet long (Plate 187).
At Syon there is a healthy vigorous tree, 68 feet by 7 feet 3 inches, with a bole 10 feet long. At Colesborne there are several of about this size, and some younger trees, one of which was photographed when covered with hoar-frost in winter, and shows the habit of branching which this tree sometimes assumes (Plate 188).
There are many handsome specimens in the park and woods at Highclere, which produce a beautiful effect when in flower. The largest that I measured is about 80 feet by 7 feet 2 inches, with a trunk 4o feet high.
At Arley Castle there is a tree, which in 1906 measured 70 feet high by 6½ feet in girth, dividing into two stems at 6 feet from the ground; and self-sown seedlings are growing near it. At Croome Court, Worcestershire, a tree in 1905 was 50 feet high by 4 feet 8 inches in girth. Sir Hugh Beevor measured in 1906 a tree at Newnham Paddox, Worcestershire, which was 63 feet high by 12½ feet in girth at two feet from the ground, dividing above into three stems, girthing each about 6 to 7 feet; and another at the Cranleigh Cottage Hospital, Surrey, 70 feet high by 8½ feet in girth.
At Pampisford Hall, Cambridgeshire, there is a group of fed trees, the largest of which was in 1906 65 feet by 4½ feet; but the specimen at Kew, which in Loudon's time was 76 feet high at 70 years old, no longer exists.
In Scotland the largest record we have is of a tree at Bowhill, near Selkirk, one of the Duke of Buccleuch's properties, which Col. H. Thynne tells me is no less than 84 feet high by 7 feet in girth, having been drawn up by surrounding trees. At Smeaton-Hepburn, East Lothian, Henry saw in 1905 two more, one 58 feet by 6 feet, the other 50 feet by 7 feet 2 inches. Another in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens measured in the same year 48 feet by 4 feet 11 inches.
In Ireland, Henry has seen no Norway Maples of considerable size; but Loudon mentions one at Charleville which was 78 feet high.
The timber of this species is very similar to that of the Sycamore and may be used for the same purposes. (H.J.E.)
ACER LOBELII
- Acer Lobelii, Tenore, Cat. Hort. Neap. append. 2, p. 69 (1819), and Fl. Nap. v. 291 (1835).
- Acer platanoides, Linnæus, var. Lobelii, Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 409 (1838).
A tree attaining about 50 feet in height, forming a narrow pyramid with ascending branches. Bark striped longitudinally. Young branchlets glaucous,
