in the wild state. It does not grow at so great a height on the Caucasus by at least
1000 or 1500 feet, so far as I was able to observe. The form of the tree is more
columnar. The light green colour of the leaves makes the difference between the
two conspicuous and remarkable. The colour of the bark and the shape of the buds
are different.” (A.H.)
Introduced from seeds collected by van Volxem in the locality mentioned above, a tree, sent to Dr. Masters in 1877 and planted in his garden at Ealing, grew very rapidly, producing splendid large foliage, silvery white on the lower surface. This tree is still living, but has been headed down, as there was no room for it to develope, and is now only about 15 feet high and 1 foot 10 inches in girth. It has not borne fruit. Dr. Masters told me that all efforts to propagate it by grafts, cuttings or layers failed, though tried by some of the leading nurserymen ; and he considered this tree, which he watched from 1877, to be the fastest-growing and the noblest of the maples.
A. Volxemi flowered for the first time in 1891, in Belgium; and its distinctness from the sycamore was then clearly established. A small tree at Kew, now about 20 feet in height, has flowered several times and produced fruit. There are also healthy young trees at Frensham Hall, and in the garden of Mr. Chambers at Grayswood, both of which places are near Haslemere.
M.E. Louis, of Simon Louis Fréres, the well-known nurserymen at Metz, informed me in a letter dated October 1902, that he cultivates the true A. Volxemi, which is sometimes erroneously called A. Trautvetteri.
In November 1902, through the kindness of the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch of Russia, I obtained a quantity of fresh seed of this species, as well as of A. insigne, from Lagodechi, the original locality ; and have raised a number of plants from them. These grow rapidly, but have not as yet ripened their autumnal growths well, and in consequence are rather bushy. The tree may, however, be considered perfectly hardy, and is well worth growing on account of its rapid growth and splendid foliage.
Acer insigne, var. Wolfi, von Schwerin,’ raised from seeds sent from the Caucasus by Herr Wolf of St. Petersburg, is apparently, from the description, a variety of A. Volxemi, distinguished by the very large leaves, perfectly glabrous and deep purple in colour beneath. (H.J.E.)
ACER TRAUTVETTERI
- Acer Trautvetteri, Medwedjeff, ex Trautvetter, Act. Hort. Petrop. vii. 428 (1880); Wolf, Gartenflora, xl. 263, figs. 58–61 (1891).
- Acer insigne, Nicholson, Gard. Chron. xvi. 75, f. 14 (1881), and J.D. Hooker, Bot. Mag. 6697 (1883). (Not Boissier and Buhse.)
A tree attaining, in the Caucasus, 50 feet in height and 6 feet in girth; bark grey, smooth. Young branchlets glabrous, green, becoming dark red in the first
1 Mitt. Deut. Dendr. Ges. 1905, p. 210.
