A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Acer erianthum Schwer.

Modern name

Acer erianthum Schwer.

A small deciduous tree with glabrous young shoots. Leaves five; six; or seven-lobed, truncate or slightly heart-shaped at the base; 2 to 412 in. long, about as much wide; lobes ovate, sharply and unevenly toothed, each one tapering to a slender point; dark green and glabrous above, paler, net-veined and glabrous beneath except for conspicuous tufts of white down in the vein-axils; stalk slender, 1 to 4 in. long. Panicles terminal, slender, 3 to 4 in. long, 58 in. wide, the flowers crowded on the upper two-thirds. Flowers about 14 in. wide, yellowish; calyx downy on the inside; petals glabrous, rather shorter than the sepals; stamens longer than either; ovary felted with yellowish wool. Fruits crowded in panicles 2 to 4 in. long, and 212 to 3 in. wide; nutlets downy when young, finally almost glabrous, the wings spreading horizontally, each 1 in. long, 14 to 38 in. wide.

Native of Szechwan and Hupeh; introduced by Wilson in 1907. This handsome maple is distinct in its slender flower-panicles, woolly ovary, and especially in the conspicuous white tufts of down sprinkled over the under-surface of the leaves. There is an example 28 ft high at Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, but it has remained uncommon in gardens and grows slowly. A specimen in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, raised from W. 4428 and planted in 1911, measures 12 × 1 ft (1968).



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

For a note on this species by Brian Mulligan, see Int. Dendr. Soc. Year Book 1976, pp. 56-7.

Genus

Acer

Other species in the genus