Acer rubrum (red maple, "Amerikahananoki")

Japanese name: アメリカハナノキ
Scientific name: Acer rubrum

[Overview]
A deciduous tree usually 12–18 m tall, sometimes reaching 40 m.
The crown is conical in young trees and rounded, circular to oval, in mature trees.
The new buds, leaf stalks, twigs, flowers, fruits and so on are reddish.
The bark is gray, smooth on young trees, later developing short vertical strip-like fissures.
Leaves are opposite, broadly ovate, 5–12 cm long, usually shallowly palmately 3-lobed, sometimes 5-lobed; when 5-lobed, the 2 basal lobes are small.
The leaves have 3 palmate veins, the lobe tips are pointed, and the margins are doubly serrate.
The undersides of the leaves are grayish green.
The leaf stalks are long.
The autumn color is vivid.
The autumn color is said to be affected by soil acidity, and female trees are said to tend toward orange and male trees toward red.
It is also said that the sex often changes, for example from male to female, male to bisexual, or bisexual to female.
The flowers bloom before the leaves emerge, are borne in bundles, and in addition to male and female flowers, bisexual flowers may also appear.
The flowers are a conspicuous crimson, with 5 sepals and 5 petals.
The fruits are 1.5–2.5 cm long and borne in pairs, each with a propeller-like wing, spreading at an acute angle of 50–60 degrees.
The fruit stalk grows long during the fruiting period.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by cuttings.
It prefers partial shade to full sun, with well-drained, moderately moist, slightly acidic conditions.
Partial shade is better, especially while the tree is young.
In shade the autumn color develops poorly.
Damage is caused by longhorn beetles and aphids, so kill them as soon as they are found.

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