''Acer maximowiczianum'' (Nikko maple; syn. ''A. nikoense'' Maxim.), is a species of

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

widely distributed in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

) and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

).Xu, T.-z., Chen, Y., de Jong, P. C., & Oterdoom, H. J
''Flora of China'': Aceraceae (draft)

Description

It is a slender

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

that reaches a height of but is usually smaller.van Gelderen, C.J. & van Gelderen, D.M. (1999). ''Maples for Gardens: A Color Encyclopedia''. It is a trifoliate maple, related to such other species as threeflower maple (''Acer triflorum'') and

paperbark maple ''Acer griseum'', the paperbark maple or blood-bark maple, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae, native to central China.Flora of China (draft)''Acer griseum''/ref> ''Acer griseum'' is found in the Chinese provinces of Gansu ...

(''Acer griseum'') but has dark gray to blackish

bark Bark may refer to: Common meanings * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...

dissimilar to the exfoliating bark of either. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

have a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

and three leaflets; the leaflets are oblong, long and broad, with dense, soft pubescence and smooth margins. The hard, horizontally spreading samaras are long and broad, and have the same

parthenocarpic In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilisation of ovules, which makes the fruit seedless. The phenomenon has been observed since ancient times but was first scientificall ...

tendencies as those of ''A. griseum''.

Taxonomy

The Chinese populations are sometimes treated as a separate

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

''A. maximowiczianum'' subsp. ''megalocarpum'' (Rehder) A.E.Murray, but this is not recognised as distinct by the ''Flora of China''. Many older texts refer to the species under its synonym ''A. nikoense'' Maxim., but as

Maximowicz Carl Johann Maximovich, also Karl Ivanovich Maximovich (Russian language, Russian: Карл Иванович Максимович; 23 November 1827 – 16 February 1891) was a Russian botanist. Maximovich spent most of his life studying the flor ...

had also cited the name ''Negundo nikoense'' Miq. in synonymy, his new name had to be regarded as the same as that under the

ICBN The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

. Miquel pointed out that his ''Negundo nikoense'' was actually a different plant to the maple Maximowicz had intended to describe, and therefore gave the Nikko Maple a new name, honouring Maximowicz in the process. Acerogenin M, a cyclic

diarylheptanoid The diarylheptanoids (also known as diphenylheptanoids) are a class of plant secondary metabolites. Diarylheptanoids consist of two aromatic rings (aryl groups) joined by a seven carbons chain (heptane) and having various substituents. They can be ...

, can be found in ''A. nikoense''.

Cultivation

Nikko maple was first introduced to cultivation in 1881, when seeds were imported by the

Veitch Nurseries The Veitch Nurseries were the largest group of family-run plant nurseries in Europe during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, after they were discovered by

Charles Maries Charles Maries (18 December 1851 – 11 October 1902) was an English botanist and plant collector who was sent by James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London to search for new hardy plants in Japan, China and Taiwan between 1877 and 1879; there he dis ...

in the forests of

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

. It is rarely seen in cultivation outside of

arboreta An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

. The largest specimens in England are up to tall and trunk diameter.Tree Register of the British Isles In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, a mature specimen may be seen at

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

References

External links

* *
Nikko Maple image
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1038831 maximowiczianum Flora of China Flora of Japan