''Acer sinense'' is a species of flowering plant in the maple genus '' Acer'', native to southeast and south-central China. A small (typically 3 to 5m tall) tree rarely reaching 15m, it prefers to grow in forested valleys 500 to 2500m above sea level. It is a highly morphologically variable species, leading to some taxonomic confusion. Some authorities consider it to be a subspecies of Campbell's maple, ''

Acer campbellii ''Acer campbellii'' (Campbell's maple, 藏南枫) is a species of maple tree indigenous to mixed forests at altitudes of 1800–3700 meters in Bhutan, northern India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam, as well as southern Sichuan, southern Xizang, and ...

'' subsp. ''sinense'', but this is incorrect; it is in its own

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. Good traits to distinguish it from members of the ''

Acer wilsonii ''Acer wilsonii'', (in zh, 三峡枫, meaning "Three Gorges maple"), is a species of flowering plant in the genus '' Acer'', native to southeast and south-central China. It is considered by some authorities to be a subspecies of Campbell's maple ...

'' species complex are that its inflorescence is a compound corymbose panicle with 60 to 70 flowers, with pedicels that are 5 to 6 mm long, its ovaries are pilose, appearing white, and its nutlet is nearly glabrous, and convex, without any veins.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3281171 sinense Trees of China Endemic flora of China Plants described in 1889