Acer spicatum
Common name:
Mountain Maple
Moose Maple
Pronunciation:
A-ser spi-KA-tum
Family:
Sapindaceae, Aceraceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Broadleaf deciduous large shrub to 15 ft (~5 m), a small tree [30 ft (~10 m)] at higher altitudes of Tennessee and North Carolina, crown unevenly rounded, open, trunk short, crooked. Leaves simple, opposite, 6-12 cm long and nearly as wide, 3-lobed, sometimes slightly 5-lobed, central lobe triangular, tips acuminate, coarsely and irregularly serrate, yellowish green above, pubescent below, petiole slender and usually longer than the blade; fall color may be brown, yellow, orange or scarlet. Flowers small, 1 cm across, 5 petals, greenish yellow to creamy white, in upright spikes 8-14 cm long, appear after leaves have expanded. Fruit nearly glabrous (lacking hairs) at maturity, wings less than or near right angles to each other, about 1.5 cm long; sometimes bright red in summer, mature in late summer and may remain on tree into winter.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 2 Native to eastern North America, from Labrador east to Saskatchewan and south to northern Iowa and Georgia. A understory tree in eastern Canadian forests.
- spicatum: spiked, spike-like, presumably a reference to the upright flower cluster.
- Portland, Oregon: Hoyt Arboretum.
Click image to enlarge
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shaded leaves, spring
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foliage and fruit
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leaf
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leaf, underside
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fruit cluster
