Acer buergerianum

Acer buergerianum (trident maple; simplified Chinese: San Jiao Feng ; traditional Chinese: San Jiao Feng ; pinyin: sanjiaofeng) is a species of maple native to eastern China (from Shandong west to southeastern Gansu, south to Guangdong, and southwest to Sichuan), Taiwan and Japan.

Description

It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree reaching a height of 5-20 m with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The leaves are in opposite pairs, 2.5-8 cm long (excluding the 2-5 cm petiole) and 3.5-6.5 cm broad, hard, glossy dark green above, paler below, usually with three lobes; on mature trees the lobes forward-pointing and with smooth margins, on young trees with more spreading lobes and serrated margins. They are produced in spring in yellow-green in pendulous Corymbs. The flowers are small with five greenish petals and five yellow-white stamens. The fruit is a samara with two winged seeds, each seed 4-7 mm diameter, with a 15 mm wing; the wings are forward-pointing and often overlapping each other.

The species is variable, and a number of varieties have been described:

A few trees bear consistently unlobed foliage; they were first described as a A.trifidum variety. Integrifolium Makino ( A.trifidum was an old synonym for A. buergerianum), however, they are not now distinguished from the species. Occasional unlobed leaves also occur on most trees with otherwise normal three-lobed leaves.

Cultivation

It is widely grown in temperate regions as an ornamental tree. It was introduced very early to Japan, where its name translates as “China maple”. More recently, it was introduced to Europe and North America in 1896, and is now occasionally grown in parks and large gardens there. Mature examples may be seen at Westonbirt Arboretum in England, the Esveld Aceretum in Boskoop, Netherlands, Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts and many other locations.

Bonsai

Trident maple is a popular choice for the art of bonsai and responds well to techniques that create leaf reduction and ramification. It is suitable for many style and sizes of bonsai.

Cultivars

Several interesting cultivars have been developed, many of these bear Japanese names. Notable cultivars include ‘Goshiki Kaede’ (striking pink and green variegation), ‘Kifu Nishiki’ (roundish, almost un-lobed leaves), ‘Mino Yatsubusa’ (dwarf with long, narrow leaves) ‘Mitsubato Kaede’ (distinctive cork-like trunk) and ‘Naruto’ (strongly incurved leaf surface).