Some of the best known cultivars are ‘Moonfire’, ‘Dissectum’, ‘Bloodgood’, and ‘Osakazuki’. The cultivars vary greatly in their cultural requirements. Characteristics such as leaf shape and color and growth form (i.e., upright growing type and dwarf type) have all been carefully selected to produce a vast range of cultivars. There are some 300 cultivars to choose from. The cultivation and selective breeding of Japanese maple trees goes back over three centuries. Samaras ripen between September and October and are scattered by wind. Flowers bloom between May and June and are insect pollinated.įruit is a winged seed called a samara they are green to red and ½ to ¾ inch long. The small, reddish flowers are borne in stalked, umbrella-shaped clusters. Summer color is green and autumn color varies from orange to yellow to red to purple. Leaves of the species form are oppositely arranged, hand-shaped, 2 to 5 inches long and have 5 or 7 lobes. There is great variation in this species due to the large number of cultivars in the trade. tall with a spread equal to or greater than the height. The habit is rounded to broad-rounded, with a layered branching structure similar to flowering dogwood. The plant can be grown as a small single-stemmed tree or large multiple stemmed shrub. Japanese maple is a small deciduous tree or large shrub with a broadly spreading crown. The tree was introduced to England in 1820. It has been long cultivated by the Japanese. Japanese maple grows in Japan, central China and Korea. Japanese maple refers to the tree’s native habitat of Japan. Acer is Latin for “sharp” and may also be from the Celtic ac, which means “hard” in reference to the wood palmatum means “hand-like” and refers to the shape of the leaves.

Maple tree types and sizes