French maple
| French maple | ||||||||||||
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French maple ( Acer monspessulanum ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Acer monspessulanum | ||||||||||||
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The French maple ( Acer monspessulanum ), also French Maßholder, rock maple or castle maple mentioned, is a tree art from the kind of maples ( Acer ). These are in today family of the soap tree plants provided (Sapindaceae), but were formerly their own family maple plants (Aceraceae).
description
The deciduous tree reaches a height of three to ten meters and is usually sparsely branched with an irregular crown.
Only after the three-lobed leaves have unfolded do the yellow-green flowers appear, which grow into a pair of compound nuts with partly reddish wings. These fruit wings are parallel to each other. In autumn the leaves turn golden yellow.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 26.
Occurrence and distribution
The main distribution area of the French maple is the Mediterranean area . Radiating from France , it is still at home in Germany in the Middle Rhine region , in the Moselle and Nahe valleys. It occurs east of the Rhine in Lower Franconia , but there it may only have overgrown from castle gardens. This is where the regional name “Burgen-Ahorn” comes from.
It needs nutrient-rich, loose clay soil and a warm location, preferring full sun to partial shade. That is why you can only find it at the edges of the forest or well-sunlit bushes in climate-favored locations. It reaches the northern limit of its distribution in southwest Germany. The rock maple-sessile oak forest (Aceri monspessulani-Quercetum petraeae) is a characteristic Rhenish forest community . However, it is very rare to find isolated specimens in the climatically favorable locations of the upper Elbe valley, e.g. B. on Burgberg in Meißen . Nationwide, the French maple is a Quercetalia pubescntis order character. But it also occurs in companies of the Berberidion Association.
General
In dry years, the foliage can dry out completely in summer without the trees suffering permanent or visible damage. The flowers secrete abundant nectar and are frequented by insects, especially bees . The fruits are spread by the wind. There can be a long period of time between fruit ripening and spreading. Germination takes place in early spring. The young plants need a lot of light and are less vigorous than the similar field maple .
literature
- Helmut Pirc: Maples . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1994, ISBN 3-8001-6554-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 648.
