Acer carpinifolium ("Chidorinoki")

Japanese name: チドリノキ （千鳥木）
Scientific name: Acer carpinifolium

[Overview]
A deciduous small tree or tree seen along mountain valleys, growing about 10 m tall.
The trunk often forms several stems clumped from the base.
The leaves are simple and opposite, resembling those of the Shide group, oblong, 8–13 cm long and 2.5–7 cm wide, with a sharply pointed tip and 18–25 pairs of parallel lateral veins.
The leaf margins have regular double serrations.
The petiole is 0.5–2 cm long.
The petioles, the veins on the upper leaf surface, and the underside of the leaf are at first covered with soft hairs, but later the leaf becomes hairless except on the veins of the underside.
The leaves turn yellow in autumn.
It is dioecious.
The flowers are borne at the branch tips in racemes 5–10 cm long, with about 15 male inflorescences or 3–7 female inflorescences, and hang down.
The flowers are pale yellow, with 4 sepals and 4 petals.
The fruits are 2.5–3 cm long and borne in pairs, each with a propeller-like wing, and the wings spread at about a right angle.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or cuttings.
It prefers a well-drained site in partial shade to full sun.
Partial shade is better, especially while the tree is young.
In shade, the autumn color develops poorly.
Longhorn beetles and aphids cause damage, so catch and kill them as soon as they are found.

[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to liken the way the fruits hang to a flock of plovers (chidori) in flight.

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