''Acer buergerianum'' (trident maple; ) 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 ...

native to eastern

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 ...

(from

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

west to southeastern

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

, south to

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, and southwest to

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 ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

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 ...

. The specific epithet is a

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

honoring Dutch plant hunter J. Buerger (1804-1858).

Description

It is a small to medium-sized

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 ...

reaching a height of 5–20 m with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. 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, ...

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. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are produced in spring, yellow-green, in pendulous

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

s; they are small, with five greenish sepals and five yellow-white petals about 2 mm long, and eight stamens. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is a

samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

with two winged

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s, 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: * ''Acer buergerianum'' var. ''buergerianum''. Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Zhejiang. * ''Acer buergerianum'' var. ''jiujiangense'' Z.X.Yu. Jiangxi. * ''Acer buergerianum'' var. ''horizontale'' F.P.Metcalf. Southern Zhejiang. * ''Acer buergerianum'' var. ''formosanum'' (Hayata ex Koidzumi) Sasaki. Taiwan (endemic). * ''Acer buergerianum'' var. ''kaiscianense'' (Pampanini) W.P.Fang. Gansu, Hubei, Shaanxi. * ''Acer buergerianum'' var. ''yentangense'' W.P.Fang & M.Y.Fang. Zhejiang. A few trees have consistently unlobed leaves; these were first described as a variety ''A. trifidum'' var. ''integrifolium'' Makino (''A. trifidum'' is an old synonym of ''A. buergerianum''), but are now not distinguished from the species.Makino Herbarium, Tokyo
''Acer trifidum''
/ref> Occasional unlobed leaves also occur on most trees with otherwise normal three-lobed leaves.Mitchell, A. F. (1974). ''A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe''. Collins

Cultivation

It is widely grown in temperate regions as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

. It was introduced very early to

, where its name translates as "China maple".Kanon tree book
''Acer buergerianum''
(in Japanese

More recently, it was introduced to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in 1896, and is now occasionally grown in parks and large gardens there. Mature examples may be seen at Westonbirt Arboretum in

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 ...

, the Esveld Aceretum in Boskoop, Netherlands,

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 ...

and many other locations.

Bonsai

Trident maple is a popular choice for the art of

bonsai Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...

and responds well to techniques that create leaf reduction and ramification. It is suitable for many style and sizes of bonsai.

Cultivars

Several interesting

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s have been developed, many of these bear Japanese names. Notable cultivars include 'Goshiki Kaede' (striking pink and green

variegation '' Cryptocarya williwilliana'' showing leaf venation and variegated leaves Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the foliage, flowers, and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants, granting a speckled, striped, or patch ...

), '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).

References

External links

*
line drawing, Manual of Vascular Plants of the Lower Yangtze Valley China Illustration fig. 219
{{Taxonbar, from=Q941891 buergerianum Flora of Japan Flora of China Plants used in bonsai Plants described in 1865