Acer glabrum / Rocky Mountain Maple I didn't see a thread for this one yet. These are a native shrub or small tree in the Rocky Mountains that I encounter regularly on hikes. I've noticed that in open spaces and full sun they form a dense (not particularly beautiful) clump, but in the understory of the conifer forest they have fewer trunks and a beautiful slender form. These photo's are of one small clump I have in a bonsai pot, but I'll dig up a few shots of them in the wild as well. Please let me know if I did anything wrong here, or if there was already a thread that I didn't see.
Hi Dan, Thanks for posting. I'm fascinated by these glabrums. I just today rec'd a packet of seed from Canada, and I do have var. douglasii (apparently) growing well as a young seedling, and would really love to get var. neomexicanum, a really interesting maple. I was in the Cascades over Christmas, but never saw any types. The correct way of writing it is with a lower case G, i.e. Acer glabrum var glabrum. I wonder if this one is now var douglasii? @Ron B do you know? I'm not very good with these, but going on the 3 lobes and sharpness of the indentations. If it came from Wyoming though, that would make it var glabrum, I suppose... Cheers, -E
Hi Emery, Thank you, I remembered the lower case G too late to edit. If any moderators could fix that for me I'd much appreciate it. I'm not exactly sure which variety it is, but yes it is from southeastern Wyoming, in the Medicine Bow range. I'll do a bit more digging into the varieties. They are a nice little tree that seem to be little known in the maple world.
There is not universal agreement on how all the supposedly distinct sub forms should be named, with there even being 2 published as found only in parts of California; I'm inclined to call this species A. glabrum and leave it at that. Acer glabrum - Wikipedia
As an aside, shouldn't it be 'Rocky Mountains Maple'? There isn't just one Rocky Mountain, there's a whole chain of them. Same applies to Pinus aristata, which I've sometimes seen cited as 'Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine'.
Thank you Michael! I've never thought of it that way, but I suppose it makes sense. They've just been 'Rocky Mountain' in any literature I've read so I never thought much about it.
Common names, yeesh. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Apparently. :) Don't get these guys started on common names, Dan. lol. This maple coming from Wyoming is enough to make it var glabrum. As I said, I'm not great with these, but certainly var neomexicanum seems very distinct, and there does seem a wide consensus (anyone I've ever talked to, so there's your sample space!) that var douglasii is accepted as distinct.
Haha! All good, I enjoy everyone's input. I managed to dig up more photo's. I've had these for a long time and was worried I wouldn't find them, so finally just pulled them from my old blog. Hopefully the quality is still decent.
