Acer sempervirens

Last updated

Acer sempervirens
Acer sempervirens 2 RF.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Genus: Acer
Section: Acer sect. Acer
Series: Acer ser. Monspessulana
Species:
A. sempervirens
Binomial name
Acer sempervirens
L. 1767
Synonyms [1]
  • Acer heterophyllumWilld.
  • Acer humileSalisb.
  • Acer orientaleL.
  • Acer willkommiiWettst.

Acer sempervirens, the Cretan maple, is a species of maple native to southern Greece and southern Turkey. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Cretan maple (Asfendamos), Dikti Mountains, Crete Cretan Maple, at Pano Kaminaki, Kroustas, Dikti Mountains, Island of Crete.jpg
Cretan maple (Asfendamos), Dikti Mountains, Crete

Acer sempervirens is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub or small tree, one of the very few evergreen species in the genus. It grows to 10 metres (33 ft) tall with a trunk up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in diameter. The bark is dark grey, smooth in young trees, becoming scaly and shallowly fissured in mature trees. The shoots are green at first, becoming dull brown in the second year. The leaves are opposite, hard and leathery in texture, 1–4 centimetres (0.39–1.57 in) long and 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) across, glossy dark green with a yellow 1 centimetre (0.39 in) petiole, variably unlobed or three-lobed (often on the same shoot); the lobes have an entire (toothless) margin. The flowers are yellow-green, produced in small pendulous corymbs. The fruit is a double samara with two rounded, winged seeds, the wings 1.5–3 centimetres (0.59–1.18 in) long, spread at an acute angle. [3] [5] [6]

It is one of the most drought- and heat-tolerant species in the genus, occurring on dry, sunny hillsides at moderate elevations. It is closely related to Acer monspessulanum from further north and west in Europe, differing from it in being a smaller, often shrubby tree, and in its smaller, evergreen leaves. [3]

Cultivation and uses

Cretan maple is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in western Europe; it was introduced to Britain in 1752. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Acer platanoides</i> Species of flowering plant in the soapberry family Sapindaceae

Acer platanoides, commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to North America in the mid-1700s as a shade tree. It is a member of the family Sapindaceae.

<i>Acer campestre</i> Species of flowering plant in the lychee family Sapindaceae

Acer campestre, known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains. It has been widely planted, and is introduced outside its native range in Europe and areas of USA and Western Australia with suitable climate.

<i>Acer circinatum</i> Species of maple

Acer circinatum, the vine maple, is a species of maple native to western North America.

<i>Acer cappadocicum</i> Species of maple

Acer cappadocicum, the Cappadocian maple, is a maple native to Asia, from central Turkey east along the Caucasus, the Himalayas, to southwestern China.

<i>Acer ginnala</i> Species of plant

Acer ginnala, the Amur maple, is a plant species with woody stems native to northeastern Asia from easternmost Mongolia east to Korea and Japan, and north to the Russian Far East in the Amur River valley. It is a small maple with deciduous leaves that is sometimes grown as a garden subject or boulevard tree.

<i>Acer tataricum</i> Species of tree

Acer tataricum, the Tatar maple or Tatarian maple, is a species of maple widespread across central and southeastern Europe and temperate Asia, from Austria and Turkey east as far as Japan and the Russian Far East. The species is named after the Tatar peoples of southern Russia; the tree's name is similarly commonly also misspelled "Tartar" or "Tartarian" in English.

<i>Acer opalus</i> Species of maple

Acer opalus, the Italian maple, is a species of maple native to the hills and mountains of southern and western Europe, from Italy to Spain and north to southern Germany, and also in northwest Africa in Morocco and Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maple</span> Genus of flowering plants, trees in the lychee family Sapindaceae

Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae. There are approximately 132 species, most of which are native to Asia, with a number also appearing in Europe, northern Africa, and North America. Only one species, Acer laurinum, extends to the Southern Hemisphere. The type species of the genus is the sycamore maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, the most common maple species in Europe. Maples usually have easily recognizable palmate leaves and distinctive winged fruits. The closest relatives of the maples are the horse chestnuts. Maple syrup is made from the sap of some maple species. It is one of the most common genera of trees in Asia.

<i>Acer buergerianum</i> Species of plant

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 (1804-1858).

<i>Acer shirasawanum</i> Species of maple

Acer shirasawanum, the Shirasawa maple or fullmoon maple, is a species of maple native to Japan, on central and southern Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū.

<i>Acer japonicum</i> Species of maple

Acer japonicum, Fullmoon Maple, Downy Japanese-Maple, is a species of maple native to Japan, on Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, and also southern Korea.

<i>Acer carpinifolium</i> Species of maple

Acer carpinifolium is a species of maple native to Japan, on the islands of Honshū, Kyūshū, and Shikoku, where it grows in woodlands and alongside streams in mountainous areas.

<i>Buxus sempervirens</i> Species of flowering plants in the box family

Buxus sempervirens, the common box, European box, or boxwood, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Buxus, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco, and east through the northern Mediterranean region to Turkey. Buxus colchica of western Caucasus and B. hyrcana of northern Iran and eastern Caucasus are commonly treated as synonyms of B. sempervirens.

<i>Acer davidii</i> Species of maple

Acer davidii, or Père David's maple, is a species of maple in the snakebark maple group. It is native to China, from Jiangsu south to Fujian and Guangdong, and west to southeastern Gansu and Yunnan.

<i>Acer rufinerve</i> Species of maple

Acer rufinerve, the grey-budded snake-bark-maple, redvein maple or Honshū maple, is a species of tree in the snakebark maple group, related to Acer capillipes. It is native to mountain forests of Japan, on Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku.

<i>Acer crataegifolium</i> Species of maple

Acer crataegifolium , is a species of maple in the snakebark maple group, native to mountains forests of central and southern Japan, on Honshū, Kyūshū, and Shikoku.

<i>Acer cissifolium</i> Species of maple

Acer cissifolium is a maple native to Japan, from southern Hokkaidō south through Honshū and Shikoku to Kyūshū.

<i>Acer truncatum</i> Species of maple

Acer truncatum, the Shantung maple, Shandong maple, or purpleblow maple, is a maple native to northern China, in the provinces of Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, and to Korea.

<i>Acer lobelii</i> Species of maple

Acer lobelii, known as Lobel's maple or L'Obel's maple is a rare maple tree native to southern Italy and the western Balkans. Synonyms include Acer platanoides subsp. lobelii and Acer cappadocicum Gled. subsp. lobelii (Ten.) De Jong.

<i>Acer palmatum</i> Species of maple

Acer palmatum, commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: irohamomiji, イロハモミジ, or momiji,, is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. Many different cultivars of this maple have been selected and they are grown worldwide for their large variety of attractive forms, leaf shapes, and spectacular colors.

References

  1. The Plant List, Acer sempervirens L.
  2. Med-Checklist: Acer sempervirens
  3. 1 2 3 Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins. ISBN   0-00-220013-9.
  4. Encyclopedia of Life
  5. 1 2 Mitchell, A. F. (1982). The Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins. ISBN   0-00-219037-0.
  6. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan. ISBN   0-333-47494-5.