Acer velutinum

Velvet maple ( Acer velutinum )

The velvet maple ( Acer velutinum ) or Persian sycamore maple is a medium sized tree from the kind of maples in the family of Soapberry ( Sapindaceae ). The natural range is located in the Caucasus and northern Iran.

Description

The Velvet maple is an up to 25 -meter-high tree with broad crown and with thick, bare, gray to brown stems. The leaves are five-lobed, 15 to 25 inches wide with heart- shaped base. The lobes are ovate sawn and rough and irregular. The upper leaf surface is bright green, hairy underside of the bluish-green and shaggy. The petiole is 20 to 25 inches long. The leaves turn yellow in autumn. The yellowish-green flowers grow in panicles 8-12 centimeters wide. The species flowers in May after driving off the leaves. The fruits are hairy and about 3-6 inches long. The wing is an obtuse angle to horizontal.

Distribution and ecology

The distribution area is located in the north of Iran and Azerbaijan. The species grows in biodiversity-rich forests on fresh to moist, acidic to neutral, sandy to loamy humus - rich soils in full sun to light shade locations. The species is thermophilic and usually frost hardy.

Systematics and history of research

The velvet maple ( Acer velutinum ) is a species in the genus of the maples (Acer) in the family of Soapberry ( Sapindaceae ). There he is assigned to the section Acer, Acer series. The first description was in 1846 by Pierre Edmond Boissier in the Diagnoses Plantarum Novarum Orientalium.

There are two varieties:

  • Acer velutinum var velutinum
  • Acer velutinum var van volxemii ( Mast. ) Rehder hairy with larger leaves and on the lower leaf surface only along the nerves. The fruit wing is spread almost horizontally, occurrence only in the Caucasus.

Use

The species is rarely used because of their exceptional autumn color as ornamental tree.

Evidence

26790
de