This is kept up as a distinct species by Pax and Schneider ; but intermediate forms are common, and there are no distinctive characters in the flowers or fruit.
- 2. Var. neapolitanum.
- Acer neapolitanum, Tenore, Fl. Napol. ii. 372 (1820).
This variety differs from the last in the lobes being still shorter, with the basal lobes often obsolete; and the lower surface of the leaves (Plate 206, Fig. 15) is covered with dense whitish tomentum.
Distribution
This species is widely distributed in Southern Europe, extends eastwards into the Caucasus, and also occurs in Algeria and Morocco. The typical form is found in the mountain forests of the south and south-east of France, ascending as high as the silver fir, and is recorded’ from the Jura, Burgundy, Lyonnais, Dauphiné, Savoy, Alpes Maritimes, Provence, Aveyron, Pyrenees, and Corsica. It rarely attains a height of more than 30 feet, and is often only a bushy small tree. It also grows in South-western Switzerland, extending along the Jura as far north as Neuchatel, and is also found in the Apennines of Northern and Central Italy.
Var. neapolitanum is found in wooded regions in the mountains around Naples, ascending as high as the beech, and attains, according to Tenore,” large dimensions in the Basilicata and Calabria.
Var. obtusatum is widely spread through Italy, as far south as Calabria and Sicily, and is common in the Balkan peninsula, extending from Croatia, through Istria, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Servia, and Herzegovina to Roumelia, reaching its most southerly point in the Pindus range. In the Caucasus, according to Radde,* it is confined to the province of Talysch, where it grows at elevations between 1500 and 5000 feet. It is also found in Algeria and Morocco. (A.H.)
Cultivation
This species was introduced, according to Loudon, from Corsica in 1752, and though little known in general cultivation and rarely found in nurseries, has apparently a first-rate constitution, and is perfectly hardy. It ripens fruit in this country ; and I have raised plants from seed sent me in 1901 by the Earl of Ducie, which grew the first season as fast as a sycamore, and are now about 10 feet high. It is one of the first of the maples to come into flower, early in March at Kew; and when in full flower the tree has a most handsome appearance. Its leaves colour nicely in autumn; and this maple is well worth a place in pleasure grounds, where it is not particular about soil, if this is well drained.
1 Rouy et Foucaud, Flore de la France, iv. 1 50 (1897).
2 Essai Géog. Roy. Naples, 81 (1827).
3 Pflanzenverb. Kaukasusländ., 184 (1889).
