''Acer velutinum'' is a species of tree in the
Sapindaceae
The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee.
The Sapindaceae occur in tempera ...
family.
It is referred to by the common names velvet maple or Persian maple, and is native to
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
,
Georgia and northern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It grows in the moist
Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests
The Hyrcanian forests ( fa, جنگل های هیرکانی) are a zone of lush lowland and montane forests covering about adjoining the shores of the Caspian Sea of Iran and part of that of Azerbaijan. The forest is named after the ancient reg ...
as wells as parts of
Eastern Georgia.
It is a tall
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
growing to over 40 m tall.
[Akbarinia, M. & Hukusima, T. 1995. Regeneration Process of ''Fagus orientalis'' Forests after Cutting in Iran. ''J. Jpn. For. Soc.'' 77(2): 170-178. Availabl]
online
References
velutinum
Plants described in 1846
Trees of Azerbaijan
Flora of Iran
Flora of Georgia (country)
Taxa named by Pierre Edmond Boissier
{{sapindales-stub