Acer circinatum

Vine leaf maple ( Acer circinatum )

The vine leaf maple ( Acer circinatum ) is a plant of the genus maples ( Acer) in the family of Soapberry ( Sapindaceae ).

Description

Vegetative characteristics

When vine leaf maple is a deciduous, usually multi-stemmed shrub or, less often with growth heights of up to usually 8, rarely 12 meters small tree. He often forms dense stands by vegetative propagation: When the branches touch the ground, they can take root and form sinker. Also from the roots foothills can be formed. Seedlings are rare. In open, sunny situations it grows upright, in the shade of other trees often inclined to prostrate. The thin branches have a smooth bark frosting pale greenish to reddish, often whitish and slightly tacky. The bark is brown later.

The constantly against arranged on the branches leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is 2.5 to 3.5 inches long. The simple leaf blade is seven to neunlappig, 3 to 12 inches wide at the base and slightly heart-shaped. The leaf margin is irregularly doubly serrate. The lower leaf surface is hairy, the whole area and the bright green upper surface are only hairs ( trichomes ) along the leaf veins. The fall color of the foliage is in full sunlight golden yellow to bright crimson.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering period extends from April to May At the end of the branches stand together flowers in a leafless inflorescence six to ten, rarely up to twenty. The sepals are purple or red. With a width of 0.6 to 1.2 inches, the white petals are smaller than the sepals.

Fruits

The ripening in autumn schizocarps divided into two nut winged fruits (Samara ). The Nuts couple sitting at an angle of about 180 ° splayed together. The nut fruit and the wings are each about 2 inches long. The only green fruits are reddish- brown in autumn and spread by the wind. The seeds germinate in the spring.

Occurrence and ecology

The distribution area is located in western North America, ranging from southern Canada (British Columbia) to northern California. The vine leaf maple is restricted to the wet west side of the Cascade Mountains, he rarely comes in valleys on the eastern side of the drier before. In the north of its range it does not rise above altitudes of 1000 meters, in the south it is found up to altitudes of 1600 meters.

It grows in a closed forest, on the edge of the forest and on fire -related initial stages. The soils are deep, well drained, but due to the high rainfall but moist. Socialized he is with the local forests dominating high conifers: Douglas Fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii), Western Hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla ), red cedar (Thuja plicata), Lawson cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ), Sitka Spruce ( Picea sitchensis) and purple - fir ( Abies amabilis ). On the east side of the Cascade Mountains, it occurs together with the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Other shrubs that grow with the grape leaf maple in the same crown layer, such as green alder ( Alnus viridis ssp. Sinuata ), Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa ), Holodiscus discolor, Corylus cornuta, annoying Oregon grape ( Mahonia nervosa ), Shallon bill Berry ( Gaultheria shallon ), Rhododendron macrophyllum, Rubus ursinus and pink gymnocarpa. In the herb layer Moosglöckchen ( Linnaea borealis), Vaccinium ovalifolium grow, Vaccinium membranaceum, Tiarella trifoliata, Polistichum munitum, bear grass ( Xerophyllum tenax ), Hydrophyllum species Actaea rubra and Whipplea modesta.

Moose (Alces alces) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus ) eat the foliage of the vine leaf - maple, moose in winter, the bark and twigs. The seeds, buds and flowers are eaten by a variety of birds and small mammals such as squirrels and chipmunks.

Use

The vine leaf maple is occasionally used as ornamental tree. These few species have been read:

• 'Little Gem' - dwarf, low -growing, leaves no more than 2 to 3 inches tall.
• ' Monroe ' - slotted sheets, lobes cut to the petiole and in turn divided fiederförmig.

Locally, the wood is occasionally used as firewood or for making tool handles and handles. The Indians used long, thin branches for weaving baskets, snowshoes and fish traps.

System

The vine leaf maple was described in 1814 by Frederick Traugott Pursh scientifically. Within the genus of the maples (Acer) it is again classified into the section Palmata and there in the same series Palmata. It is the only species in this genus in America; the related species such as Japanese maple (Acer japonicum) or Acer pseudosieboldianum are all native to East Asia.