Acer buergerianum
Journal of the tricorn - maple (Acer buergerianum )
The three- pointed maple ( Acer buergerianum, syn. Buergeranum Acer, Acer trifidum ) or three- toothed maple is a tree species of the genus maples ( Acer). These will be made today to the family of Soapberry ( Sapindaceae ), formed earlier but my own family maple family ( Aceraceae ).
The tricorn Maple is sometimes planted as an ornamental tree and used as a bonsai.
Description
There is an up to 20 meters tall tree ( in Central Europe usually only ten to twelve meters), whose bark is deeply furrowed in old age and checkered in rectangular plates. The shoots are bare.
The leaves are three-lobed, four to eight (ten) inches wide and four to six (ten) inches long. The base is rounded or wedge-shaped, the lobes are triangular, pointed, directed forward or to the side, the leaf margin is entire or with a few irregular teeth. The top is shiny dark green, the underside is pale or blue-green, hairy when young. The stem is about as long as the leaf blade. In the autumn the leaves turn crimson striking.
The inflorescences ( corymbs ) are terminal on the branches. The flowers are yellowish, small, on hairy stalks. Each flower consists of five sepals, five yellowish- white petals, eight stamens and the gynoecium. There are also purely male flowers. The flowering period is from April to May, just after the leaves.
The fruits are carpels, which are 2-2.5 cm in size. The angle between the two wings varied.
Dissemination
The distribution area is Japan, China and Taiwan. From the coast it rises up to 1500 meters altitude in the mountains.
System
While Pirc classifies these maple in the section pentaphylla and there in the series trifida, he stands in the "Flora of China" in the section Oblonga. Both, however, agree that the tricorn Maple is related to other East Asian maples such as Acer and Acer oblongum paxii. The three- pointed maple is one of the few deciduous trees in this section, most related species are evergreen.
The three- pointed maple is divided into a number of varieties:
- Acer buergerianum var buergerianum - the nominate form is widespread in eastern China and in Japan
- Acer buergerianum var jiujiangense ZX Yu - used in China's Jiangxi Province
- Acer buergerianum var horizontal F. P. Metcalf - widespread in southern Zhejiang
- Acer buergerianum var formosanum ( Hayata ex H. Léveillé ) Sasaki - located in Taiwan
- Acer buergerianum var kaiscianense ( Pampanini ) WP Fang - occurring at altitudes from 1000 to 1500 meters in the provinces of Gansu, Hubei and Shaanxi
- Acer buergerianum var yentangense WP Fang Fang & MY - used in Central Zhejiang