| Acer cappadocicum | |
|---|---|
| Cappadocian Maple leaves | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Sapindaceae[1] |
| Genus: | Acer |
| Species: | A. cappadocicum |
| Binomial name | |
| Acer cappadocicum Gled. |
|
Acer cappadocicum (Cappadocian Maple) is a maple native to Asia, from central Turkey (ancient Cappadocia) east along the Caucasus, the Himalaya, to southwestern China.[2][3][4][5][6]
It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 20-30 m tall with a broad, rounded crown. The leaves are opposite, palmately lobed with 5-7 lobes, 6-15 cm across. The leaf stems bleed a milky latex when broken. The flowers are in corymbs of 15-30 together, yellow-green with five petals 3-4 mm long; flowering occurs in early spring. The fruit is a double samara with two winged seeds, the seeds are disc-shaped, strongly flattened, 6-11 mm across and 2-3 mm thick. The wings are 2.5-3 cm long, widely spread, approaching a 180° angle. The bark is greenish-grey, smooth in young trees, becoming shallowly grooved in mature.[2][3][5][6]
There are three varieties, sometimes treated as subspecies:[4][5]
The closely related Acer lobelii from southern Italy is also treated as a subspecies of A. cappadocicum by some authors.[5] The eastern Asian species Acer amplum, Acer pictum, and Acer truncatum are also very closely related, and often confused with A. cappadocicum in cultivation.[4]
Cappadocian Maple is grown as an ornamental tree in Europe. Many of the trees in cultivation show a strong tendency to produce numerous root sprouts, a character rare in maples.[2][3] The hybrid maple Acer × zoeschense shares this character and probably has Acer cappadocicum as one of its parents.[3] Cultivars exist with foliage tinged red and yellow.