Also bear in mind that the maple is much larger now and able to shade itself. More self-shading = more and earlier green. From what I can see of the highest layer of leaves at the top of the tree, they are the most similar to the colours from May 2020.
Hi @Nik , I confess I haven't followed this thread closely, and I know it's moved around a little. Assuming from the title you are trying to determine if a maple is 'Tsuri nishiki'. As serendipity would have it, the great Belgian arboriculturist -- adopting this term in frustration: nurseryman seems outdated, I have heard the unrecognized term nurserywoman, how about nurseryperson? anyway -- Benoit Choteau, in demonstrating his scanning method, included two scans of 'Tsuri nishiki'. I think I would not be alone in putting Benoit among the hagiography (ha!) of Japanese Maple experts. He gave me permission to post the scans here. I hope they help ID your maple. Cheers, -E P.S. Sorry, long day. 7 back-breaking hours burning a very wet 2-year old pile of branches, some rotting, some green. Followed by cultivar work and triage (throwing out) old children's things.
@emery Those pics seem the same as (or very similar to) the specimen I photographed at Westonbirt that does not match the description and pictures in Yano or Vertrees. Also does not match the old 'Tsuri nishiki' plants at Morris that @Nik posted in the photo gallery (which do match the book pictures). Possibly everyone in Europe has the wrong maple for 'Tsuri nishiki'?
Hi @emery , It appears that just like for ‘Kogane nishiki’ (which is the name I settled on for my maple, ‘new Kogane nishiki’), there are also two very different versions of ‘Tsuri nishiki’. The first ‘Tsuri nishiki’, the one I believe is the real one, is unique in the shape of its large leaves. [pictures attached to this post are from the Morris Arboretum] Yano’s picture is a perfect match (post #42 by @maf in this thread). So are the pictures from Vertrees’ 2nd edition (post #74 by @maf in this thread) and Greer (post #89 by @wind-borne in this thread). The second ‘Tsuri nishiki’ is what is in Westonbirt (pictures by @maf in post #82 in this thread), Benoit Choteau’s scans, and what is offered by Esveld and Maillot. Actually, I have not seen the “real” ‘Tsuri nishiki’ being sold by any European nursery (at least judging by their pictures online). I suspect the name was attached to this particular cultivar by someone in Europe long time ago… For both ‘Tsuri nishiki’ and ‘Kogane nishiki’ it is quite the mess… Thank you for posting these scans!
Additionally, The Maple Society Newsletter, Summer 2007 Vol. 17/2, pages 16-17: “The old 1901 Catalogue of the Yokohama Nursery Co. Ltd lists thirty seven different maples, including many cultivars which are still popular today. ……. A. palmatum ‘Tsuri nishiki’ has deeply cut ribbon-like green leaves. “ I think this is yet more evidence suggesting that the European cultivar is something completely different.
Yay, the forum is back! I found the entire catalog of the Yokohama Nursery Co. from 1918-1919. It is very interesting to see what was being exported to the US at the time… The link will take you directly to the maple pages, but you can browse the full catalog. ‘Tsuri nishiki’ is still offered in 1918, again spelled ‘Tsuru nishiki’, but undoubtedly the same tree. https://archive.org/details/CAT31301830/page/28/mode/2up
I think I finally figured out the ID of my maple. Acer amoenum ‘Taki no gawa’ (or A. palmatum’Taki no gawa’). Also ‘Taki-no-gawa’ or ‘Takinogawa’. Not to be confused with A. japonicum cultivar with the same name. There is a description in Vertrees 4th ed., but no picture. Here are a couple of descriptions from Japanese blogs (Google translation with small changes from me, e.g. “lobes” was translated as “cracks”). “Takinogawa is a deciduous tall tree of the Mukuroji family . It is a horticultural variety of the Oomomiji type. The height of the tree is about 15 meters. The leaves have 5 to 9 lobes, but usually 7. There is a fine and regular single serration. In the case of this variety, it is reddish brown at the time of leafing out, and eventually it changes to light brown, and reddish brown remains at the tip of the lobes, and the main vein becomes a white green. It is a variety that changes to green in summer and shows reddish brown leaves in autumn.” “Momiji "Takinokawa", also known as "Takinogawa", is a maple type, and it is a variety with a color somewhere in the middle between purple leaves and green leaves. The leafing out is similar to the purple leaf species, the reddish-brown leaf is mixed with the downy hair and slightly whitish, but when the leaves open, it becomes beige and the reddish brown remains at the tip of the lobes, and the main vein runs green. Gradually, the leaves turn dull green, and the main vein changes to a whitish green. The autumn leaves are reddish brown. “ Also, a few pictures available online:
Thanks, @maf ! Yep, it’s a match. And I agree with you when you mentioned previously that “brown” in the book is a color that doesn’t quite correspond to the English meaning of the word.
