Acer buergerianum
Acer buergerianum is a species of maple native to eastern China, Taiwan and Japan. The specific epithet is a patronym honoring Dutch plant hunter J. Buerger.
Description
It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree reaching a height of 5–20 m with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The leaves are in opposite pairs, 2.5–8 cm long and 3.5–6.5 cm broad, hard, glossy dark green above, paler below, usually with three lobes; on mature trees the lobes forward-pointing and with smooth margins, on young trees with more spreading lobes and serrated margins. The flowers are produced in spring, yellow-green, in pendulous corymbs; they are small, with five greenish sepals and five yellow-white petals about 2 mm long, and eight stamens. The fruit is a samara with two winged seeds, each seed 4–7 mm diameter, with a 15 mm wing; the wings are forward-pointing and often overlapping each other.The species is variable, and a number of varieties have been described:Acer buergerianum var. buergerianum. Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Zhejiang.Acer buergerianum var. jiujiangense Z.X.Yu. Jiangxi.Acer buergerianum var. horizontale F.P.Metcalf. Southern Zhejiang.Acer buergerianum var. formosanum Sasaki. Taiwan.Acer buergerianum var. kaiscianense W.P.Fang. Gansu, Hubei, Shaanxi.Acer buergerianum var. yentangense W.P.Fang & M.Y.Fang. Zhejiang.
A few trees have consistently unlobed leaves; these were first described as a variety A. trifidum var. integrifolium Makino, but are now not distinguished from the species. Occasional unlobed leaves also occur on most trees with otherwise normal three-lobed leaves.