Acer acuminatum

tapering leaf species

Sapindaceae › Acer

Tapering leaf maple is in the soapberry or Sapindaceae family and is native to the Himalayas and neighboring mountains in Tibet, Kashmir, northern India, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is a multi-stemmed tree, reaching up to 10 m in height.

  • Leaves are deciduous, simple, opposite, 8–14 cm long, 3 to 5-lobed (basal lobes small or absent), lobes triangular, ending in long, tapering tips about 1 cm long, margins sharply serrate, glabrescent, bearded in the axils beneath; base is either heart-shaped or flat. Petiole is 5–10 cm long, slender, pubescent, often reddish.
  • Species is dioecious; pistillate flowers are in clusters (racemes) of 4, 5 mm across, at the end of leafy shoots, greenish and produced in April, with 4 oblong sepals 3–4 mm long.
  • Winged samaras are double, 2–3 cm long, from horseshoe-shaped to diverging at a wide angle, sometimes first reddish as they form.

Contributors

  • Philippe de Spoelberch