I bought this tree from a garden center. It was labeled "'Green' Acer palmatum" (Acer palmatum 'vert'). It was quite cheap, but what surprised me was the colour of the bark, of a dark red. I first thought it had been mislabled and was some kind of 'atropurpureum', but when it came out of dormancy, the leaves were indeed green, even if the edges were redder than the common species of Acer palmatum. Unfortunately, it was one of the two trees that suffered from drought while I was on holidays, and it lost almost all its leaves. It's backbudding now, and I hope I can save it. The first picture is a (not very good) photo taken on April 9th. You can see the difference with a katsura (right) and the common J. maple (bottom). The second one was taken last week. The question is what cultivar or subspecies is it?
From what I can see in the 2nd picture, it doesn't appear to be grafted - so I'd say you have a seedling grown Acer palmatum showing the normal variances that seedlings produce. The parent tree could have been a red-trunked variety, or it could have been in proximity to a tree with a red trunk, or it could have produced that trait on it's own. But since it's not grafted, it's likely not a named cultivar (unless it's a rooted cutting).
Thanks for your reply, but it isn't : the leaves are the same as the plain A. palmatum, they are not like those of a linearilobum. I wish it were !... Prairiestyle must be right : it might be a hybrid between a form of "Atropurpureum", from which it took the colour of the bark, and a green-leaved species.
