I am having an exceptionally hard time finding an Acer triflorum or seed to purchase. Does anyone know where I might have some luck?
Hi Kyle, I'm sure triflorum must be available somewhere in the US, but clearly not obvious to find. Looking around just now I saw a lot of pictures of plants that look like they are hybrids: the bark is quite a bit more exfoliating than triflorum, edging towards the paperbark, griseum. Mrmaple.com has something that may interest you (it does me), A. x waxmanii, a hybrid of (at least) triflorum and griseum plus maximowiczianum apparently. Another interesting one is 'Cinnamon Flake', e.g. Buchholz & Buchholz Wholesale Nursery | Our Plants | Acer 'Cinnamon Flake' (Cinnamon Flake Paperbark Maple). These hybrids have showier bark than the true triflorum, but they are of course desirable for that very reason. I love the basic triflorum though, maybe the Nichols bros could point you in the right direction to get one, if a hybrid doesn't suite your purposes. I don't recommend seeds, unless you're an expert: it is difficult to germinate. I found a place in Canada, don't know if they can ship to you: Rare / Unusual Trees & Shrubs | Rhora's Nut Farm
I confirm! It's rather easily found in Europe (France, Belgium, maybe other countries). I'd really like to know what their "technology" is, I've tried sowing seeds after a period or stratification, some without, just kept outside, from different places including Kew Gardens (!) and from several places in France. None of them have ever germinated. :-( I checked the pot kept outside in which I planted about 12, the achenes are still very hard, so maybe I hope one or two will germinate next spring, I heard that it sometimes takes two years.
Perhaps stratification with some GA3 (gibberellin) will help. Deno's book discusses this and is a very helpful resource for germinating seeds. I've used this for germinating stewartia pseudocamelia seeds, so perhaps ...
Thanks for the tip, I had never heard of it before. I searched the web and it's available here, at least online so I might try it.
Yes it might be worth a try. I do know that all of the section trifoliata requires double dormancy, from memory it's 3 cold / 3 warm / 6 cold stratification, but the month lengths may not be right there. Dirr talks about using the "Cesarean Section" method to get a few trees, there was an article a few years ago in the Maple Society newsletter explaining how to perform this. But clearly commercial production of A. griseum is now succeeding with germination, and some of the big nurseries have a tree that is a seed parent. "Seeds are doubly dormant and if fall planted require 2 years, some germinating the third year and beyond. The pericarp wall is extremely tough and dormancy is caused by the physical barrier as well as embryo conditions (HortScience 16:341). The senior author has cold stratified seed for 90 days, split the fruit wall, extracted the embryos, planted them in vermiculite and most grew." -- Dirr. "
It's not hard to germinate, or no harder than any of the Snakebarks. Usual 3 month stratification. Seedlings are week though (in my experience) and of course it is often very hard to get good seed for micranthum.
