Acer ginnala

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Acer ginnala
Amur Maple foliage
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae[1]
Genus: Acer
Species: A. ginnala
Binomial name
Acer ginnala
Maxim.

Acer ginnala (Amur Maple) is a plant species with woody stems native to northeastern Asia from easternmost Mongolia east to Korea and Japan, and north to southeastern Siberia in the Amur River valley. It is a small Maple with deciduous leaves that is sometimes grown as a garden subject or boulevard tree.

Description

Acer ginnala 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.[2]

Taxonomy

Amur Maple is closely related to Acer tataricum (Tatar Maple), and some botanists treat it as a subspecies A. tataricum subsp. ginnala (Maxim.) Wesm.) [3] They differ conspicuously in the glossy, deeply lobed leaves of A. ginnala, compared to the matte, unlobed or only shallowly lobed leaves of A. tataricum.[2]

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]

In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[5]

It is also valued in Japan and elsewhere as a species suitable for bonsai. It is a nonnative invasive species in parts of northern America.[6]

References

  1. Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 [and more or less continuously updated since]. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
  3. Germplasm Resources Information Network: Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala
  4. USDA Plant Profile: Acer ginnala
  5. http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=44
  6. Randall John The Encyclopedia of Intrusive Plants Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Janet Marinelli, Brooklyn Botanic

External links

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