Acer ginnala

taxobox
name = "Acer ginnala"

---

image_caption = Amur Maple foliage
status = LR/lc
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
unranked_ordo = Rosids
ordo = Sapindales
familia = Sapindaceae
genus = "Acer"
species = "A. ginnala"
binomial = "Acer ginnala"
binomial_authority = 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 boulvard tree.Flora of China (draft): [http://web.archive.org/web/20060209210809/http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/china/mss/volume11/Aceraceae-AGH_coauthoring.htm Aceraceae] ]

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.Rushforth, K. (1999). "Trees of Britain and Europe". Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.]

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.) Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?403019 "Acer tataricum" subsp. "ginnala"] ] They differ conspicuously in the glossy, deeply lobed leaves of "A. ginnala", compared to the matt, unlobed or only shallowly lobed leaves of "A. tataricum".

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.USDA Plant Profile: [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ACGI "Acer ginnala"] ]

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. [ Randall John "The Encyclopedia of Intrusive Plants" Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Janet Marinelli, Brooklyn Botanic]

References