Acer pentaphyllum

Chinese maple or five-lobe maple is in the soapberry or Sapindaceae family and is a rare, endangered maple native to southwestern Sichuan Province in China. Less than 500 plants are thought to be left in the wild. It is a shrub or small tree growing to up to 9 m tall.

The UBC Botanical Garden in Vancouver, B.C., Canada has established an ex-situ conservation site at the Garden for the conservation of this critically endangered species.

• Leaves are opposite, simple, palmate, dark green, red-petiole, with each leaf having 5 (occasionally 7) very narrow, acuminate-tipped leaflets 8-10 cm long and 1.2- 2.2 cm across, divided to the petiole; fall colour ranges from yellow to orange to red. The unusual leaves closely resemble those of marijuana.
• Species is andromonoecious (male and hermaphrodite flowers on the same tree); flowers are yellow-green, small, clustered, hanging from slender stems.
• Fruit is a pair of samaras to 2.5 cm long, spreading at 90 degrees; samaras mature in mid- summer.