This is my first post to this forum however a little background. I moved to NJ about 7 yrs ago andm my girlfriend got me interested in JM's. Over the years our backyard has become a nice Maple showroom with many nice cultivars....including 'Moonrise' Acer shirasawanum Hybridized by Munn (8' tall as of today) 'Full Moon' Acer shirasawanum (5' tall) 'Burgundy Flame' Acer Palm. 'Verdis' Acer Palm Dissec 'Kagiri Nishiki' 'Ghost Maple' 'Peaches and Cream' 'Butterfly Maple' 'Crimson Queen' 'Aka Shigitatsu Sawa' 'Seiryu' (8' tall) 'Bloodgood' (MANY examples around yard) I also found a hobby in collecting seeds. Wherever I found them. I started to keep good records of what was what but various pots got moved, lables disappeared and finally many sprouted seedlings were unidentifiable. This leads me to my situation. About three years ago I came across a seedling, one of many hundreds, that was different. The leaves were strange and new, the growth pattern was unusual. I segregated it to its own pot and continued to water it and watch its growth. Now in its 3rd year, the leaf pattern is STRIKINGLY strange. 5 prominent lobes that are crinkled. It is doing VERY well in full light and is very fast growing. The new growth is almost exclusively straight up with leaf clumping and almost no branching (at least so far) New growth is also very RED. The fall colors from last year are also strikingly beautiful (as most maples are) with deep reds and some orange. I have not pruned any lower growth yet. I attached 5 photos. 1st from 2009 when this baby tree was first observed. It is in a small pot with a few other seedlings. 2nd is the same tree in 2010 and the the last 3 are of leaf closeups and the tree as it stands today in its own pot. Any ideas of the basic family of maple this might come from? Any thoughts? I am hoping for some ideas from the prominent experts on this forum as well as ideas of how to further identify this tree. Thank you in advance.... Chris
Looks like an Acer palmatum seedling to me. I've had several that exhibited similar leaves, but they all grew out of it eventually. Since this is in the third year, you definitely have something that may keep this leaf shape.
