Acer ginnala
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| Acer ginnala | ||||||||||||||
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 Amur Maple foliage
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| Acer ginnala Maxim. |
Acer ginnala (Amur Maple) is a species of maple native to northeastern Asia from easternmost Mongolia east to Korea and Japan, and north to southeastern Siberia in the Amur River valley.[1]
It is a deciduous spreading shrub or small tree growing to 3-10 m tall, with a short trunk up to 20-40 cm diameter and slender branches. The bark is thin, dull gray-brown, and smooth at first but becoming shallowly fissured on old plants. The leaves are opposite and simple, 4-10 cm long and 3-6 wide, deeply palmately lobed with three or five lobes, of which two small basal lobes (sometimes absent) and three larger apical lobes; the lobes are coarsely and irregularly toothed, and the upper leaf surface glossy. The leaves turn brilliant orange to red in autumn, and are on slender, often pink-tinged, petioles 3-5 cm long. The flowers are yellow-green, 5-8 mm diameter, produced in spreading panicles in spring as the leaves open. The fruit is a paired reddish samara, 8-10 mm long with a 1.5-2 cm wing, maturing in late summer to early autumn.[1][2]
It is closely related to Acer tataricum (Tatar Maple), and is treated as a subspecies of it (as A. tataricum subsp. ginnala (Maxim.) Wesm.) by some botanists.[3] They differ conspicuously in the glossy, deeply lobed leaves of A. ginnala, compared to the matt, unlobed or only shallowly lobed leaves of A. tataricum.[2]
[edit] Cultivation and uses
Acer ginnala is grown as an ornamental plant in northern regions of Europe and North America, where it is the most cold-tolerant maple, hardy to zone 2. It is naturalised in parts of North America.[4]
It is also valued in Japan and elsewhere as a species suitable for bonsai.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Flora of China (draft): Aceraceae
- ^ a b Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
- ^ Germplasm Resources Information Network: Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala
- ^ USDA Plant Profile: Acer ginnala
