Hi, I bought a label "tamake yama" .. But it is not even lace leaf. Is it a Beni Otake (Red Bamboo)? Only a few leafs are opened to a fatter palmatum shape. my pictures are trying to show the different stage of leaf on the same plant. Here it is http://www.sfu.ca/~rhui/house/backyard/unknown_acer/ Thanks, also would like to know if it can take the sun. *edit - resized pics
I dunno, that bunch of leaves on the left looks awful suspicious...maybe that's why you're having trouble keeping track of the name, eh?
What's in a name? These are tough for anyone to figure out. We have to know which linearilobums will have the newest stems that are red and which ones will have green stems. Then we get to play with red stems on new growth that will turn green in a month or two. We also have to deal with the ones that will have red stems on young wood and green stems on older wood. Yes, there are some red leafed forms that only have green stems. Actually the vigorous growth such as shown on the left helps to better know which cultivar this one may be. Some cultivars just do not throw out vigorous growth that much and some can yield quite a bit of overly vigorous growth. I've seen 'Red Spider' covered with red palmate shaped leaves and I've seen 'Koto no ito' covered with green palmate shaped leaves. I've seen 'Ao shime no uchi' covered with green deeply divided leaves and 'Aka shime no uchi' with many red deeply divided leaves which pretty much dispels the notion that they were the same Maples as the old 'Filifera red' and 'Filifera green' that were sold back in the early 70's. I've seen 'Shino buga oka' (not to be confused with 'Ao shime no uchi' as they are not the same plant) that mostly had leaves that resembled 'Tamahime' also but with a few linearilobum shaped leaves. The new leaves are almost always, start out, palmate shaped and as the leaves mature they become linearilobum shaped. It is this process is what separates 'Shino buga oka' from 'Ao shime no uchi'. Then there are forms that do not throw out a palmate or deeply divided vigorous leaf but can throw out a leaf resembling the old scolopendrifolium leaf such as Koto ito komachi, yet the dwarf form of 'Koto ito komachi' originating from Robert Ticknor in Oregon seldom if ever throws out a vigorous leaf. There is also the old form of 'Scolopendrifolium rubrum' that still exists but is seldom seen much any more, not like it used to be seen around. There was also 'Scolopendrifolium' which has a green leaf and there was a yellow green form that was sold at one time as being 'Scolopendrifolium Viridis'. One of the reasons I liked the photo of 'Enkan' from the Ganshukutei web site is that we see a red linearilobum, not many of these are a true red and we see leaves that are uniform in their color and shapes of the leaves. For some of us old timers that may be the form of linearilobum we have waited years to see. Time will give us more knowledge of that plant but it seems quite promising. It is. available now in some nurseries in Oregon. We can see from the Esveld web site that 'Villa Taranto' can throw out a series of overly vigorous growth. 'Atrolineare' can also but the size of the vigorous leaves are smaller than 'Villa Taranto' can get. Then there is the difference in the color of the leaves and the color of the stems that can separate 'Atrolineare' and 'Filifera purpurea' from each other. I think Brad is in the ballpark as this Maple is not 'Beni otaki', synonym of 'Beni otake', nor is it a 'Red Pygmy'. Jim
I think that the tree is closest to Atrolineare, but I am not certain, as the plamate leaves are very large and seem to have more serrations that I have seen. The red color is a little deep for what I am familiar with as is the green. I have seen a more orbicircular shape with more rounding in the vigorous lobes than the hard taper seen in this tree. So in anycase, I am talking more for my own benefit here than adding to the solution, so I will stop for now. I posted photos of an Enkan from Greer Gardens in Oregon in the gallery a few days ago and I am not sure what to say about it as it has much more differentiated growth than I had expected to see. Very deep maroon leaves, petioles and bark, but a very noticiable percenate of almost fully palmate leaves and leaves of various sizes. It is pretty large, 5-6ft, but may just need time to settle down in a less fertile environment to get the uniform leaf that Jim is hoping to see. I suppose one also has to consider the tree is sitting in a 3gal. squat. can and it far beyond the need for a good repotting. Soon enough. MJH
