Snakebark maples are

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

s belonging to the

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

''Acer'' sect. ''Macrantha''. The section includes 18–21 species, and is restricted to eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

(the eastern

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

east to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

) with the exception of one species in eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

.Flora of China (draft)
Aceraceae
/ref>Maple World

van Gelderen, C. J. & van Gelderen, D. M. (1999). ''Maples for Gardens: A Color Encyclopedia''.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins . Acer pensylvanicum0

The various species of snakebark maples are most easily distinguished from other maples by their distinctive

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

, smooth (at least on young trees), and usually patterned with vertical dark green to greenish-brown stripes alternating with stripes of light green, pinkish or white, sometimes with a bluish tone. Other characters include stalked

bud In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be spec ...

s with just one pair of scales, and

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s on arching to pendulous

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s. The samaras are small, and often numerous. They are small deciduous trees, typically 5–15 m tall, rarely to 20 m tall, fast-growing when young but soon slowing down with age, and often short-lived; they typically occur as understorey trees in mountain forests, often along streamsides. ;Species: * ''

Acer capillipes ''Acer capillipes'' (Kyushu maple or red snakebark maple; ja, ホソエカエデ, translit=hosoekaede), is a maple in the same taxonomic section as other snakebark maples such as '' A. pensylvanicum'', '' A. davidii'' and '' A. rufinerve''. It i ...

'' - Kyushu maple, red snakebark maple * ''

Acer caudatifolium ''Acer caudatifolium'' is an Asian species of maple, found only in Taiwan. The species is sometimes confused with another Taiwanese tree, ''Acer morrisonense''. This species has been known to reach 20 metres tall. Leaves are non-compound, the bl ...

'' * ''

Acer × conspicuum ''Acer'' × ''conspicuum'', called the snakebark maple (which is also the name for all of the members of its section, '' Macrantha''), is a hybrid species of maple. It was created in the Netherlands by crossing ''Acer davidii'' (Père David's map ...

'' - snakebark maple, a garden hybrid * ''

Acer crataegifolium ''Acer crataegifolium '' (hawthorn-leaf maple or uri maple; Japanese language, Japanese: ウリカエデ ''urikaede'', "melon maple"), is a species of maple in the snakebark maple group, native to mountains forests of central and southern Japan, ...

'' - hawthorn-leaf maple * ''

Acer davidii ''Acer davidii'', or Père David's maple, is a species of maple in the snakebark maple group. It is native to China, from Jiangsu south to Fujian and Guangdong, and west to southeastern Gansu and Yunnan.Flora of China (draft)Aceraceae/ref> The ...

'' (syn. ''A. grosseri'', ''A. hersii'', ''A. laisuense'') - Père David's maple, Hers's maple * ''

Acer forrestii ''Acer pectinatum'' is an Asian species of maple that is native to the Himalayas and nearby mountains in southwestern China, Myanmar, and the northeastern part of the Indian Subcontinent. It is a spreading deciduous tree up to tall in the wild, ...

'' * ''

Acer laxiflorum ''Acer pectinatum'' is an Asian species of maple that is native to the Himalayas and nearby mountains in southwestern China, Myanmar, and the northeastern part of the Indian Subcontinent. It is a spreading deciduous tree up to tall in the wild, ...

'' * ''

Acer maximowiczii ''Acer maximowiczii'' is an Asian species of maple. It has been found only in China (Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romaniz ...

'' - Maximowicz's snakebark maple * '' Acer metcalfii'' * ''

Acer micranthum ''Acer micranthum'', the small-leaved maple, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae in the snakebark maple group, native to Japan, on Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku. Its Japanese name is the .Kobe city''Acer micranthum'' (in Jap ...

'' * ''

Acer morifolium Acer may refer to: * ''Acer'' (plant), the genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples * Acer Inc., a computer company in Taiwan ** Acer Laboratories Incorporated, a subsidiary company of Acer, Inc., that designs and manufactures integrated ...

'' * '' Acer morrisonense'' (syn. ''A. rubescens'') * ''

Acer pectinatum ''Acer pectinatum'' is an Asian species of maple that is native to the Himalayas and nearby mountains in southwestern China, Myanmar, and the northeastern part of the Indian Subcontinent. It is a spreading deciduous tree up to tall in the wild, ...

'' (syn. ''A. taronense'') * ''

Acer pensylvanicum ''Acer pensylvanicum'', known as the striped maple, moosewood, moose maple or goosefoot maple, is a small North American species of maple. The striped maple is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning that it can change its sex throughout its lifetime ...

'' - striped maple, the only non-Asian species * ''

Acer rufinerve ''Acer rufinerve'', the grey-budded snake-bark-maple, redvein maple or Honshū maple (Japanese: ウリハダカエデ ''urihadakaede'', "melon-skin maple"), is a species of tree in the snakebark maple group, related to ''Acer capillipes'' (Kyushu ...

'' - redvein maple * ''

Acer sikkimense ''Acer sikkimense'' is a rare Asian species of maple. It is native to the Himalayas and nearby mountains in Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, northern India, Myanmar, Tibet, and Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Sout ...

'' (syn. ''A. hookeri'') * ''

Acer tschonoskii ''Acer tschonoskii'' (in Japanese ''ミネカエデ'', ''Mine-kaede'', literally "''ridge maple''"), the butterfly maple or Tschonoski's maple, is a species of shrub or small tree native to Japan and the Kuril Islands. It is one of the least inva ...

'' (syn. ''A. komarovii'') * ''

Acer tegmentosum ''Acer tegmentosum'', the Manchurian striped maple, is a species of deciduous tree in the maple genus, which is native to the southern part of the Russian Far East (along the Amur and Ussuri rivers in Primorsky Krai), northeastern China (Heilongj ...

'' Some have good fall color with tones of reds and orange, while others tend toward a pale yellow which is less impressive. All are relatively hardy compared to many other species of maples, and many are widely cultivated as

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

s for their bark. Several

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s and

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

s have been developed in cultivation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3590922 Maple

See also

References