This critter is in a graveyard I steal seeds from. It has the general presentation of a Japanese maple, but the leaves are ~6 or 8" square. Leaves are twice the size of Silver Maple, but half the size of Bigleaf. Lobes are a large caricature of Silver Maple. Leaves are presented horizontally in its high under-story location indicating it seeks light, but it grows well enough in low light. The horizontal leaves are strikingly dead flat and horizontal. The photos are from under the tree looking up at ~80° or so, and don't show this. A tree that had this leaf presentation in full sun would have great difficulty surviving in low light. Sunlight requirements and tree size are unlike Bigleaf or Silver Maples. Mountain and higher latitude species of maple tend to have smaller leafs with shorter lobes, polar opposite of this leaf. Rough, gathered bark on upper side of trunk collar above protruding branches, et al, is not characteristic of maples. Is not Japanese, American or European because it would be in general cultivation due to attractiveness and "small tree" size. China is vast and has many isolated zones that have peculiar weather. Eg: Pandas, Golden Larch, and Dawn Redwood, and there are lots of species I can't find photos of, so I'm in a guessing game.
Oh good.....I am really pleased to find out the name. Love the shape of the leaves. Acer saccharum 'Sweet Shadow' looks a perfect match Douglas. I don't think it has made it over the pond yet. Acer saccharum 'Sweet Shadow' leaf - Google Search: Acer saccharum 'Sweet Shadow' - Google Search
Seems right to me too. But I really commented to say @Silver surfer good to see you here, I wish you would come back to the Maple Forum more often... -E
Looks like a match, but I won't be able to examine mine closer until next spring. The more I look around, the more I see that there are deeply cut Maples throughout the genus. I need to overlay these with local Silver, Sugar and Norway. Individual variability might negate that, but maybe I'll learn something. Thanks!
I have looked at the leaf over and over, and I don't think this is Acer saccharum 'Sweet Shadow'. The center of each lobe is distinctly and significantly longer and thicker (wider) and the waistline of the lobes are also proportionally thicker(wider) than any Silver leaf I see photos of. The leaf was yellow when I found the tree in November, Silvers being characterized as oranges. Maples in general are variable in autumn color, some going through the whole range of yellow-orange-reddish orange-red-deep rusty brown, but from light to dark, not ending in clear yellow. Also, the leafs were held dead flat and horizontal which I thought was remarkable in itself. The Silvers and Norways that are deeply cut all (seems to me) to have a droop and characteristic curly at the leading edges (tips). What do you think?
Shouldn't the colour on the underside of the leaves now at least rule out either Sugar or Silver? For Norway, you can check out: Are there flowers yet? Or is that a rude question coming from a place where our maple flowers are almost all out? I wonder if Acer saccharum 'Sweet Shadow' is the ID for Tree 4 in my thread at Identification: - A. platanoides 'Dissectum'? (I noted in a subsequent post that the tree may have died). Or maybe it was 'Brocade', as Emery suggested in that thread. Both A. saccharum cultivars.
It could just be an independent occurrence of cut-leaved sugar maple foliage, that exists separately from and in addition to those that each provided in their turn the basis for 'Brocade' (o. New York, 1974), 'Sweet Shadow' PP 2139 (i. 1961-62) and Fiddler's Creek ('Fidrezam'). https://www.lakecountynursery.com/w...r-saccharum-‘Fidcrezam’-Fiddler’s-Creek™-.pdf
But they would not look just like it on the tree - maple tree leaves are opposite, and oak tree leaves alternate on the branch. Also, look at how the veins are arranged, from a single point near the stem for maples, along the main vein for oak leaves.
