wild in woods in the provinces of Ghilan and Astrabad in Northern Persia, and is often planted along roads; and in Teheran is cultivated in gardens.
This species was introduced by van Volxem, at the same time as A. Volxemi. Dr. Masters received in 1877 from van Volxem three plants, one each of A. insigne, A. Volxemi, and A. Trautvetteri, which he planted in his garden at 9 Mount Avenue, Ealing. His specimen of A. insigne first flowered in 1889 and 1890, and is now a very fine tree, 43 feet high and 3 feet 7 inches in girth, as measured by Henry in October 1907. It has a good straight bole, with slender ascending branches, and produces fruit regularly. Two seedlings near it are about three feet high. There are two small trees of A. insigne in the collection at Kew, which are less striking in appearance than A. Volxemi; but are apparently growing as fast.
At Colesborne, plants raised from seed, received from Lagodechi in the central Caucasus, under the name of A. Trautvetteri, and sown in December 1902, are now about 5 feet high. (H.J.E.)
ACER VOLXEMI
- Acer Volxemi, Masters, Gard. Chron. x. p. 18, figs. 1, 2, and p. 188 (1891).
- Acer Van Volxemi, Masters, Gard. Chron. vii. 72, fig. 10 (1877).
- Acer insigne, Boissier et Buhse, var. Van Volxemi, Pax, in Engler, Jahrb. xvi. 395 (1892).
This tree is referred by Schneider and von Schwerin to A. insigne, var. glabrescens, Boissier; but it differs considerably from A. insigne, and is either a distinct species or is possibly a hybrid between A. insigne and A. Trautvetteri, resembling the former more in the shape of the leaves and the latter in the structure of the flowers.
In this species, the leaves are extremely large, often 10 inches wide and 9 inches long, resembling those of the sycamore on a large scale, pale and glaucous beneath, with white pubescence along the sides of the primary and secondary nerves, forming axil-tufts, but not scattered over the surface. The buds resemble those of A. insigne; but the twigs differ in being pubescent at the nodes and on the upper edges of the leaf-scars. The flowers resemble those of A. Trautvetteri, having long bracts and bracteoles.
This tree is little known in the wild state, the only account[1] being that of van Volxem, who collected seed of it some years before 1877, in the valley[2] of a tributary of the Kura, above the military station of Lagodechi, on the southern slope of the central Caucasian chain. According to van Volxem, "it is a very large tree, very distinct from A. Pseudoplatanus in its larger size and its paler green colour, by which it is recognisable hundreds of yards away. The winged fruits are also smaller. It grows intermixed with A. Pseudoplatanus in the same forests, but with no intermediate forms, hence it is not a local form, nor would a mere variety remain distinct
- ↑ Gard. Chron. vii. 72 (1877). Van Volxem's specimens from the Caucasus, from which Dr. Masters drew up his description, cannot now be found; and the species has apparently not been collected by any one except van Volxem.
- ↑ Van Volxem names this tributary the Yora (or Jora); but this river lies much to the southward of Lagodechi, the Alasan river intervening.
