Fullmoon Maple
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| iFull Moon Maple | ||||||||||||
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 Newly-formed Acer shirasawanum leaves emerging in the spring
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| Acer shirasawanum |
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Acer japonicum subsp. shirasawanum |
The Fullmoon Maple (Acer shirasawanum) is a species of maple native to the Japanese islands of Hokkaidō and Honshū. It was formely categorized as a variety of Acer japonicum and some authorities still use this classification. Many species in cultivation are mislabled. [1]
A. shirasawanum is a large shrub or small tree growing to 8-15 m tall with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The leaves are 5-12 cm long and broad, palmately veined and lobed, with 7-11 shallowly incised lobes; the overall outline nearly round (hence the common name "Fullmoon"). They turn a mix of gold, orange, and red in autumn. The flowers are purplish-red, produced in terminal corymbs in early spring before the leaves; the fruit is a pair of samaras, the seeds 5-10 mm diameter, with 2-2.5 cm long wings.
In addition to a number of cultivars, two varieties of Fullmoon maple are recognized: A. shirasawanum subsp. shirasawanum and A. shirasawanum subsp. tenuifolium.[2]
[edit] Cultivation and uses
It is grown as an ornamental tree in gardens for its foliage and fall colour, but is seen far less commonly than the closely-related Japanese Maple (A. palmatum). In cultivation, the lighter-coloured A. shirasawanum cultivar 'Aureum' is more common than the main species and is propagated by grafting onto more hardy and fast-growing Acer species, A. palmatum and A. japonicum in particular. [3]
[edit] References
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Acer japonicum
- Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.
