I wanted a snake-bark maple for a long time, now, thanks to the Maple Society seeds exchange and the respected curator of the now famous "Les Souffrettes" aceratum ;-) I have three! A. rufinerve, A. davidii, and A. tegmentosum: Details from Acer rufinerve, from a seed sown in 2016. Emery, do you think that's the true species? (I have others like this one) Acer davidii, from Emery. It has reddish new shoots, a bit different from one that a friend bought and has green new twigs. I wish it keeps the reddish tones of the bark when it grows. Acer tegmentosum, from seed. Though it's normally a lighter green that the others, I think that it's got a bit of chlorosis. Just repotted a few days ago.
Heh, I'm sure you mean "infamous", anyway I'm just back from hot Paris to hotter Normandie, and spent all afternoon catching up on watering. It must be even more so at your place Alain. I had quite a lot of the tegmentosum germinate from the seed exchange; though it arrived here labeled as "davidii" I think there was a mistake along the way. There are so many species and varieties of seed it must be really hard to keep track of. Anyway I have some that are like yours, clearly tegmentosum. Unfortunately a couple got grilled, too much heat while I was gone, but I think they'll recover. Most of the davidii I have given away or kept does keep the red stems, I hope yours will also. If not, I will send you another redder one, I have a few good ones left. What you have does look like rufinerve, but the key is the leaf undersides where coarse reddish hairs should be visible along the leaf axils: hence the name. I looked in MOW where they say the hairs are not visible on vigorous shoots, so there may be an issue seeing them on a young plant. I would say also that the leaves look a bit narrow and the secondary lobes a little flat; but it is really hard to say with new growth and young plants. None the less, the snakebark section Macrantha is very promiscuous and hybridizes really easily: I have a number of plants from very good sources that are clearly hybrids! So go figure. Time will tell! Glad you've got some snakebarks, they are fabulous maples mostly, and I can't say enough good about the seed exchange. I didn't participate last year, and regret it. cheers, -E
Hi, You must be right. I checked every detail, had a look at various sources, and I don't think they're rufinerve, I must have mislabelled them. They could be capillipes (?). Anyway, they're growing very fast: one is nearly 1m50 already! (almost 5 feet!). OK, I pust some osmocote when I repotted them, but that's what I do with most of my plants. And because of the weather we had this summer, the colours of the leaves and the stalks might look a bit different than those that grow in a different environment. Time will tell... I also potted some seedlings that were in a shallow "grow-box" (about 4 cm, <2 inches) a couple of weeks ago. These I'm 100% sure are 12 Acer rubescens and 9 Acer morifolium. They also have white stipes on the bark, although not as spectacular as other species from what I read. In-between, Mentha corsica. Emery, I told you I would send you a Larix x marschlinsii (= x eurolepis). Would you like some as a "bonus" ;°) ? I've got plenty...
Sounds like hybrid vigor! And I guess that the "rufinerve" is not mislabeled but rather seed from rufinerve that hasn't come true. Most of the snakebarks are very enthusiastic about interbreeding, rufinerve, capillipes. morifolium are no exceptions. But rubescens seed from the Maple Society seems as though it is pure, this was verified when the experts were here last year. I have a couple of good morifolium that were wild collected in Japan; but they have grown so rapidly that I am concerned about them getting through the winter intact. I hypothesize that most summers here, where maximal temperatures are mostly around 25C with many colder days, the 1/2 teaspoon of osmocote I give is not fully activated. But this year with the extreme heat -- and of course I water plants in pots -- all of the nitrogen has been released and it's a bit much for some of the smaller plants. As well as the morifolium I have young seedlings of tschonoskii, distylum, rubescens, x freemanii that have put on really an unusual amount of size. I'll PM you about the larch. Ah, the larch... ;)
All right then, I'll add an "X" before rufinerve on the labels, "Acer x rufinerve", I did that for my seedlings from Shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon' that look more like plain Shirasawanum - although they're not hybrids but more likely have reverted more or less to the true species ;°)
