I have these two shirasawanum from seeds taken on a shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'. They are quite different from each other, see : Autumn colors 2020 - Maples I suspect the taller one, with smaller leaves, is a cross between A. shirasawanum and A. palmatum, look at the buds (one square is 0.5 cm) : For a comparison, buds on the 'Autumn Moon' :
I posted several photos of these two in other threads. Here they were in June 2020. Two brothers but a bit different, from seeds taken on the same parent tree, Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon' : Photos of the leaves taken today : The smaller one looks more like a shirasawanum : brown-greyish bark, large leaves with 11 lobes on average, leaves a bit larger than on 'A.Moon' : The one that I suspect is a cross between shir. and palm./ amoenum has smaller leaves with an average of 7 lobes and the bark of 2-3 year-old branches are reddish : They both get the same amount of dappled shade in late afternoon, and were both repotted in the same medium each time, at the same time. A photo to compare the leaves, and one of the parent tree (which has been in almost full shade for the past 2 years) :
They're both quite pretty! The 11-lobed one does indeed look like shirasawanum, but who knows? :) It is curious how differently seedlings come out, even on the same branch. Clearly this is sometimes down to hybridization, but sometimes there seems to be a facture of mutability: not for nothing A. palmatum was also called Acer polymorphum! -E
It's just come to my mind the tall one with smaller leaves could be called Acer 'Shirpal'. Sounds exotic enough to be a hit on E-Bay, doesn't it ? Om shanti om... ;0)
Woww amazing…leaf perfect! In contrast I have found 2021 has not been a great year for Japonicum nor shirasawanum.. Jordan, Vitifolium, Meigetsu and Aureum..but Attaryi and Aconitifolium has been good..very strange
