I have only had this maple for a short time and I was unsure of it at first being the right tree. But as the leaves have matured, I have become more confident that it is indeed the shirasawanum form of Junihitoe. I think the last photo of a mature leaf gives the best impression of the tree while one can see the variety of color and leaf shape in the newer red-tinged foliage. I look forward to watching this one mature. Photo series dates: 4/21/05;4/25/05;the last 3 from 06/05/05
These pictures are my A.S. 'Junihitoe' This tree was purchased about 12 years ago and was about 6 feet tall then. It now is only about 8 or 9 feet tall but much wider.
I've noted various spellings for this cultivar, most notably from Maplewood where it's spelled "Junihitoye." Maplewood indicates this is the smallest leafed of the shirasawanums and that the tree has a nice tight structure. My cultivar leafed out in mid-April in accordion-like fashion with wine-colored leaves.
Love this plant. 'Junihitoe' has a archetypal maple quality about it. This tree came from World Plants 3-4 years ago. It's grafted at about 10" where it abruptly changes bark texture and color.
It is a beautiful deep green. I have a hard time seeing that the leaves are small; without reference it looks a lot like the species. What is the width of the leaves on average?
Not sure I how missed this message E. I'll get the measurement today. I have another shirasawanum with smaller leaves. 'Kalmthout' is the name. Have you heard of it?
There does seem to be confusion over the name of this cultivar. Lots of synonyms. Vertrees/Gregory 4th edition lists Acer shirasawanum 'Junihitoe' as the cultivar name and 'Junihitoye' as an alternative spelling. Vertrees 2nd edition had that reversed and adds another alternative; 'Jyunihitoe'. Esveld and a couple of other maple websites list 'Juhni hito e' as the way to write it. Yano throws in a couple more spelling variations but says they are synonyms for shirasawanum 'Ogura yama', an opinion which does not seem to be shared in the maple community as far as I can tell. There is an Acer photo gallery thread here for Acer shirasawanum 'Junihitoe' Maybe the threads should be combined?
Hey D, yes I've heard of it but not seen it in person that I can remember. The problem with some of the descriptions, they're not very consistent about things like leaf size, even so far as to say something like "really small leaves" or whatever. I just looked at Maillot, it doesn't mention anything special about Kaltmthout leaf size at all... I'm pretty sure Esveld had it for a while, but not in stock at the moment anyway.
