From Flora of China: 56. Acer poliophyllum W. P. Fang & Y. T. Wu, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 17(1): 82. 1979. 灰叶枫 hui ye feng Trees evergreen, ca. 5 m tall. Bark dark gray. Branches slender, glabrous; lenticels light yellow, elliptic; winter buds axillary, ovoid, bud scales ovate, imbricate, margin ciliate. Petiole 2-2.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially gray, glaucous, adaxially light green, ovate, 6-7 × 3-4.5 cm, leathery, adaxially smooth, primary veins prominent abaxially, distinct adaxially, lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs, base rounded, margin entire or slightly undulate, apex acuminate. Flowers unknown. Infructescence terminal, corymbose, on leafy branchlets, glabrous, ca. 6 cm. Samara red when young, ca. 2.3 cm; nutlets rhombic, convex, ca. 6 × 4 mm; wings ca. 1 cm wide. Fr. Sep. ● Mixed forests; 1000-1800 m. SW Guizhou, SE Yunnan. Gomero
Thanks Gomero, that sounds very interesting, which is why I was hoping to find a photo somewhere... ;) There's something fascinating to me about many of these Chinese trees.
Hi Emery, The whole thing with Chinese maples is rather complicated. I understand, from reliable sources, that the Chinese have a tendency to declare as many new species as possible; they probably want to have the world record....... It will take many years to sort all that out and reach international consensus. In the meantime I am a bit skeptical about all those rare and unknown Chinese 'species' Gomero
Some of these are clearly not poliophyllum but it's the best I can do.They appear to call it Ash leafed maple which we denote to another tree...mind you they call Palmatum the chicken foot maple :) http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=5033164...3.com/stream22/rss/&W479&H321&T9813&S66&TPjpg
Of the pics there, these match the description: http://img.bimg.126.net/photo/7cZ9jvHAYSPaBY30iSkGzw==/4234791024613441311.jpg http://photo.cvh.org.cn/pic/kun/45/454093.jpg http://photo.cvh.org.cn/pic/kun/58/588737.jpg http://photo.cvh.org.cn/pic/nas/0007/NAS00071806.jpg http://photo.cvh.org.cn/pic/kun/45/456348.jpg Looks a nice tree, but I'd also suspect it'll only be zone 9/10 hardy; that part of China is tropical.
Thanks guys, it will be interesting to see where this fits in the classification (currently oblonga apparently). I agree Michael, although some of these (e.g. discolor) are quite hardy in zone 8 although they don't stay evergreen.
That extends a long way further north though, right up to southern Gansu, where winters are much colder (to zone 6): Flora of China (as Acer oblongum, with A. discolor cited as a synonym).
