Tricorn maple
| Tricorn maple | ||||||||||||
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Leaf of the tricorn maple ( Acer buergerianum ) |
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| Acer buergerianum | ||||||||||||
| Miq. |
The Acer Buergerianum ( Acer buergerianum , Syn. : Acer buergeranum , Acer trifidum ) or three-tooth maple is a species from the genus of maple ( Acer ). These are in today family of the soap tree plants provided (Sapindaceae), but were formerly their own family maple plants (Aceraceae).
The three-cornered maple is occasionally planted as an ornamental wood and used as a bonsai .
description
It is a tree that can reach heights of up to 20 meters (in Central Europe usually only ten to twelve meters), the bark of which is deeply furrowed with age and is fielded in rectangular plates. The shoots are bare.
The leaves are three-lobed, four to eight (ten) centimeters wide and four to six (ten) centimeters long. The base is rounded or wedge-shaped, the lobes are triangular, pointed, directed forward or slightly to the side, the leaf margin is entire or with a few, irregular teeth. The top is glossy dark green, the underside is light or blue-green, hairy when young. The stem is about as long as the blade. In autumn the leaves turn a striking red color.
The inflorescences (umbel panicles) are terminal on the branches. The flowers are yellowish, small, on hairy pedicels. Each flower consists of five sepals , five yellowish-white petals , eight stamens and the gynoeceum . There are also all-male flowers. The flowering period is from April to May, shortly after the leaves have sprouted.
The fruits are split fruits that are 2–2.5 cm in size. The angle between the two wings varies.
distribution
The distribution area is Japan , China and Taiwan . From the coast it rises up to 1500 meters in the mountains.
Systematics
While Pirc classifies this maple in the Pentaphylla section and there in the Trifida series , it is in the "Flora of China" in the Oblonga section . Both agree, however, that the three-cornered maple is related to other East Asian maples, such as Acer oblongum and Acer paxii . The tricorn maple is one of the few deciduous trees in this section, most of the related species are evergreen.
The tricorn maple is divided into a number of varieties:
- Acer buergerianum var. Buergerianum - the nominate form is common in eastern China and Japan
- Acer buergerianum var. Jiujiangense Z. X. Yu - in the Chinese province of Jiangxi spread
- Acer buergerianum var. Horizontal F.P. Metcalf - in southern Zhejiang spread
- Acer buergerianum var. Formosanum (Hayata ex H. Léveillé) Sasaki - native to Taiwan
- Acer buergerianum var. Kaiscianense (Pampanini) WP Fang - occurring at altitudes of 1000 to 1500 meters in the provinces of Gansu , Hubei and Shaanxi
- Acer buergerianum var. Yentangense W. P. Fang & MY Fang - distributed in central Zhejiang
literature
- Helmut Pirc: Maples . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1994, ISBN 3-8001-6554-6 , pp. 107 ff .
- Xu Ting-zhi, Chen Yousheng, Piet C. de Jong, Herman J. Oterdoom, Chin-Sung Chang (design): Aceraceae . In: ZY Wu, PH Raven (Ed.): Flora of China . Vol. 4. St. Louis 1994. ISBN 0-915279-70-3
