This maple belongs to section palmata. It is native to China. According to "An illustrated guide to maples" there is one specimen in Westonbirt Arboretum, England. Planted in 1986 it had grown more than 3m in 1998. It is located in semishade forest. No further information about this plant is available. Also there aren't much information in "Maples of the world" about Acer elegantulum. There aren't any cultivars and the elegantulum itself may not be hardy. J heard that Acer elegantulum is a rootstock for other maples from palmata section. Plants grafted on A. elegantulum should be more resistant to verticillium. These pictures show Acer palmatum 'Dissectum' grafted on A. elegantulum. it matches the leaf description so I think it may be elegantulum. Does anyone has an experience with this maple as a rootstock? Is it really verticillium resist? How about hardiness?
Seems rather a shame to waste an interesting rare and elegant maple as just a rootstock for a boring, over-used cultivar!
It wasn't me who grafted that dissectum on it! I just bought it:) Anyway it seems that they really use A. elegantulum as a rootstock. Some other maples I have are also grafted on it. I'm going to do some hardwood cuttings during this winter. then we shall see if A. elegantulum is easy to propagate this way. maybe it is a good source of rootstock?
Curious thread where the named plant is the rootstock.... Let me help the situation sharing the pictures of my Acer elegantulum . In complement to what Ogrodnik says, I'd like to add that this maple is rather, ahem, elegant, specially in the summer when the new yellow-green growth arches gracefully, as can be seen in pic3. The new spring growth is reddish (pic1), turning green afterwards (pic2). Fall color inconspicuous. Gomero
I have been growing a grafted plant of Acer elegantalum for some years. It is now 5-6 m and last year flowered for the first time. I have attached some pictures of it including its Autumn colour. Last weekend I was given a seedling plant that sprouted from a plant grown from seed obtained in Japan also labelled as Acer elegantalum. The other pictures are from it which although having some similarities has much rougher leaves, coarser serrations and red petioles. Are both variations of Acer elegantalum? Also Acer olivaceum has been grouped by some as synonymous, is one that instead?
@Acerholic I saw this one the other day. But decided to put the name in the search and got lots more results. Thanks I didn't think to do that.
Good evening D, an early fathers day present ???? Lovely healthy leaves, that's going to be a wonderful specimen. Do share photos of it as it matures. D
It's a fast grower in the first years, then slows down. If the soil, the sun exposure and the climate is fine, the autumn colours are spectacular. When looking for photos, I realized that the last ones I had were from 2014 : Acer / Acer elegantulum | Arbres, arbustes, bonsaï et plantes
Good evening @Acerholic. This one was in a group I ordered around the beginning of May. I didn't get a chance to get pics and post it in the 'Cheer' thread. I definitely will be posting pics/updates. Thanks @AlainK. I appreciate you sharing pics and info. I hope mine grow to look as good as yours. I love those colours!
It's a beautiful species, with interesting colours too in Autumn. I had three, gave two, the one I kept has been damaged by the frost, but the one I gave my son looked perfect a couple of days ago. I'll go and fetch him on Saturday, his MOT is one year late so he rides his bike. He'll bring a hedge trimmer and a brush cutter, and I'll take photos of the two or three trees I gave him.
Here's a picture of the one I gave my son. His small yard is surrounded by walls on 3 sides, so very well protected from the wind, and frost. Two weeks ago, the leaves had these typical red tinges but today they look like mature green ones :
It gets the sun from about 10 to 18 today. It's facing the south, against the fence where my son put some bamboo canes to have more "privacy". There's also a big Acer palmatum palmatum on its left and a 'Butterfly' on the right.
21st April 2021 and my little Elegantulum has produced a few leaves. The frost got to a couple, but it should be OK.
16th June 2021 and I'm so excited to see my elegantulum doing well. I've shown the underside today to show the structure of the leaf.
