12 (Acer) Maple Tree Species and Their Characteristics

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Sapindaceae is a family of trees and shrubs, mostly known as maples, usually shed their leaves in winter, their leaves are arranged mutually on shoots, hairy and lobed, their stems are smooth at a young age, and then cracked. there are 132 Acer types1. In this article, we will look at the types of Acer that we will encounter most often.

Acer palmatum – Japanese Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a maple species with a wide and round top diameter, which can usually be 5-6 meters tall.
• Its leaves are light green with 5 or 7 lobes, and a very beautiful reddish coloration is seen in autumn, and it is deciduous. There are very beautiful varieties and forms evaluated in terms of leaf texture, color, shape, stem and fruit beauty.
• Its flowers are red, like its leaves, they develop beautifully on well-drained and calcareous soils, they like protected, semi-shade environments, they are affected by cold winds and direct sunlight, they like soils that remain constantly wet in winter.
• In landscape architecture, they are often preferred in rock gardens and solitary, and because of their form and color, they contrast with white sand in white Japanese gardens.

Acer Saccharinum – Silvery Maple And Its Characteristics

• it is a generally multi-stemmed slightly drooping branched maple with a peak diameter of 15 meters, which can reach a height of 10-15 meters.
• The leaves have 5 lobes, the lobes are deep, the upper side of the leaves is dark green, the lower side is silver, it makes a very aesthetic yellowing in the autumn season, and then it pours out its leaf. yesilmaz
• The fruit wings have an angle of 80° -90° between the wings similar to the shape of a scythe, their color is reddish. After decanting the leaves, they remain on the plant for a while longer, and then fall off.
• This species, which is resistant to wind, usually grows naturally on the banks of streams and in flooded areas, develops well in sunny and semi-shaded environments, likes wetlands.
• In landscape architecture, it can usually be functionally preferred in groups or it can be used as a solitary element as an accent element, it can be preferred for parking lots and alleys.

Acer Negundo L. – Ash-Leaved Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a maple species with a loosely rounded top diameter that can be up to 15-20 Meters tall, it does not make very decorative yellowing, it pours leaves.
• The leaves consist of hairy 3-5-7 leaflets, which is why it got its name, the hairy leaves show different forms, have irregular rough teeth or lobes with full edges. The upper face is light green or yesil, the lower face is more hairy by an inch, and the petiole marks have surrounded the shoot all over.
• The flowers are two-petalled in one genus, there is a narrow angle between the fruit wings “like 60° -70° ” they are found quite often in inflorescences on the tree, the seeds of which are decanted after the leaf.
• It grows very fast in youth, needs a lot of light, develops well on moist loose soils, is one of such cosmopolitan plants that are resistant to flooding and wind effects. Cosmopolitan; although its homeland is North America and Canada, it is naturalized in other countries around the world”.
• It can be functionally evaluated in urban alleles, road afforestation and afforestation, it is resistant to drought, winter cold and frost.

Acer Rubrum – Red Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a dispersed-form maple species with a loose peak diameter that can be up to 20-30 Meters tall. It got this name because its red fruits, mostly petioles, shoots and leaves that form later, are red.
• The leaves are 3-5-lobed, the edges of the lobes are uneven, the upper side is dark reddish-green, the lower side is bluish, usually pubescent along the veins. Yesilin is a small, dense, dense plant. It has a diameter of 5-10 cm tall, mostly red in color, the leaves usually have a reddish autumn coloring, rarely yellow coloration can be seen.
• The flowers hang down in bunches, mostly red, rarely yellow and fragrant and bloom without decaying, there is a narrow gap of 70° -80° between the fruit wings loves wetlands, it develops well in semi-shade and sunny conditions, they do not like calcareous soils.
• It can usually be considered as a solitary accent element, because of its color, a contrast can be created with many plants, and it can be preferred for plant designs and seating areas in order to make a shadow.

Acer Tataricum – Tatar Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a shrub, usually 4-5 meters tall, sometimes a small tree that can grow up to 8-10 meters tall, its leaves are simple, the edges are lobed-free, rarely not very deep, with two lobes, irregular double-decked teeth. When it is plucked, the milk does not come out, both sides are bare, sparse hairs can be seen along the veins, showing a beautiful blush in the fall.
• The fruit wings can sometimes dec a reddish tinge, the interwings are very narrow-angled, making an angle of 10 °-45 °, not drooping into dense panicles.
• Tatar maple has a wide spread in our country, it grows in regions with extreme summer-winter temperature differences, rather than a temperate climate plant. Afyon, which is located in the forests facing the steppes of Central Anatolia and Thrace and on the edges of the streams of eastern Anatolia, is a species that indicates the steppe borders with its spread in regions such as Ankara, Konya, Erzincan, and Artvin.
• Due to its coloring in landscape architecture, it can be preferred in alle tree and autumn forests, they have many decorative cultuvars.

Acer Orientale – Eastern Maple And Its Characteristics

• Sometimes the tree has the form of a shrub, sometimes it can grow up to 12 meters, it is a type of maple that usually performs yellowing in the autumn when it is deciduous.
• The leaves are 1-3 cm in size and the stems are 1-2 cm tall, the leaves can be three-lobed, shallow-lobed or lobed-free, the leaf edges are straight or very slightly toothed, hard and hairless like leather, the upper side is green, the lower side is light green. yesil yesil.
• The flowers form erect boards, the inflorescence begins to bloom together with the leaf. The fruits are drooping in two groups, attached by wings. The wings are 1-1.5 cm long, parallel to each other or narrowly angled.
• Individually or in small groups in the dry forest areas are found between the elevations 100-1350 can be seen that temperatures can vary the resistance from -15 ° to 40° between can live. It is well developed in limeless brown soil and is spreading in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey.
• Its use can be preferred for more functional reforestation.

Acer hyrcanum – Taurus Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a shrub up to 5-6 meters tall or a large-tufted broad-topped, often branched, smooth-bodied maple species that can grow up to 10-12 meters tall.
• The leaves are almost half the length of the 5-lobed petiole, the traces of petioles 2-10 cm long on the shoot are in a contact state, the leaves show a very beautiful blush in autumn, the fruit wings are parallel to each other or make a sting of 80 °-180°
• This species and its subspecies, which have a wide distribution in our country between the altitudes of 600-1200 meters, are found in the forests of Northern, Western and Southern Anatolia dec
• In landscape architecture, it is more preferable for autumn coloring, since its subspecies have a widespread distribution, it offers a variety of plants in the design of plantings.

Acer Platanoides – Sycamore-Leaved Maple and its Characteristics

• It is a large round-topped tree with frequent branches that can be up to 20 meters tall, its shoots and buds secrete a milky-looking liquid when cut transversely “latex“
• The leaves are 5-lobed, the lobes are pointed, and each lobe is further divided into several pointed lobes. There are wide grooves between each lobe, both sides are bare, the underside is glossy, two opposing petiole scars come into contact with each other from the ends, leaving no gaps. The traces left by the exile are V-shaped and there are 3 transmission bundle traces on it. It turns yellow in autumn and leaves leaves.
• Çiçeklenme yapraklanmadan önce olur meyveleri basık tüysüz ve kanatları arasında oldukça geniş bir acı vardır.
• Sıcağa ve soğuğa toleransı yüksektir, şehir gazlarına ve rüzgara dayanıklıdır, bol güneş alan yerlerden hoşlanır
• Due to its durability and form, it can be preferred in many areas of landscape architecture.

Acer Pseudoplatanus L. – Mountain Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a smooth-bodied round broad-topped maple with a diameter of up to 25-30 meters, which can rarely reach 40 meters tall.
• It can make a trunk diameter of 10-15 meters, the shoots are quite thick and bare, there are plenty of lenticels on them that are visible to the naked eye. It is the largest budded maple in Turkey with a natural distribution
• Palm leaves 8-12-inch 5-lobed lobes at the edges of the rough-toothed, there is a space between the marks of the leaf stalk, unlike many species, get the milk, to 15 cm long, has a stem, the leaf color is dark bluish Yeşilova, Yeşilova the upper side of the lower face and hairless, and a yellowish red fall color.
• This species, which grows fast in youth, prefers cool slopes facing north and south-east in arid and low elevations, and prefers calcareous warm views facing south in high and humid areas. It develops well on sandy soils with deep loam with good drainage, makes the pile root resistant to wind.
• It is a good park tree, it can be used as a calligraphic tree in solitary or in groups It is a good wide road and street plant because it forms a large hill diameter, it can be used functionally on highway slopes in wind curtain facilities.

Acer Cappadocium – Five-Finger-Leaved Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a plump and smooth-bodied, often branched, round-topped maple species up to 20-25 Meters tall, until the age of 25-30, the bark is flat and without cracks, but then longitudinal cracks begin to form.
• The shoots are bare, first apple green, then greenish-brown and turn light gray at later ages.
• The petiole is 3-12 cm long and completely bare. When it is cut, a milky secretion emerges. The stem is almost round. The ends of the traces left by the two petioles on the shoot are in contact with each other. Leaf blade 5-7 lobed, each lobe fully edged ovate triangular drop-tipped, leaf 4-10 cm long 8-16 cm wide, both sides bare, however, small tufts of hairs at the junction of the lower face veins, upper surface dark green the underside is glossy light green as if polished, the flowers appear before the leaf.
• The fruit wings expand dec the tip there is usually a wide angle of 110°-140° between the two wings of the fruit.
• In general, the air humidity is quite high and the soil is fresh and cool in the growing areas with a degree of humidity, it is a shade tree.

Acer Campestre – Lowland Maple And Its Characteristics

• It is a densely branched tree with a rounded crown, usually 10-20 meters tall, and the bark becomes cracked when it ages properly in youth.
• When the leaves are plucked, they produce milk, the side of the stem facing the shoot is very slightly furrowed, the leaves are usually more full-edged with 3 lobes and the ends are stumpy, the lobes are sometimes divided into lobes of the second degree.
• It shows a decoloration in yellow or reddish-yellow in autumn the fruit pair has an angle of 180° between the wings and this species is easily distinguishable from the others.
• Its growth is slower than other species, it is shade-based, its heat demand is high. It can also reproduce from root and stump shoots.
• It can also grow on such sandy-clay or clay-loamy soils with chalky soils and wind, it has a high moisture demand, but it does not like stagnant water, it spreads in our country in the Thrace-Marmara region, the Western and Eastern Black Sea regions. It is a natural species of Turkey.

Acer Saccharum – Sugar Maple And Its Properties

• It is a loose-topped, frequently branched maple species with a peak diameter of 8-10 meters with a height of 30-40 meters, it is similar to sycamore-leaved maple in general appearance.
• Its leaves are 8-10 cm in size, with irregular 3-5 lobed lobes, pointed ends, the upper surface of the leaves is light green, the lower surface is light green and hairless. In autumn, yellow, orange and reddish show a very beautiful blush. The fruit wings are usually parallel to each other.
• It is a fast-growing species, they like sunny and semi-shaded areas, are shade tolerant, not wind resistant, like deep well-drained soils
• His homeland is North America and the Atlantic Ocean, and in our country he can be considered in the Aegean, Marmara and Black Sea regions.