Acer griseum

• BOTANICAL NAME: Acer griseum
• PRONUNCIATION: A-ser GRIS-e-um
• COMMON NAME: Paperbark Maple
• FAMILY: Aceraceae
• NATIVITY: Western China
• GROWTH HABIT: Open, rounded; 20'x30' tall. Slow growth rate, 6"-12" per year.
• HARDINESS: Zone 4-8
• CULTURE: Sun to light shade.
• LANDSCAPE USE: Outstanding winter bark character.
• FOLIAGE: Opposite, compound, trifoliolate, 3"-6" long. Pubescent petiole and lower surface. Leaflets more or less uniformly serrate (see A. triflorum). Foliage emerges bronze and may turn a good red in fall.
• BUDS: Sharply pointed, black, 1/16" - 1/8" long.
• BARK: Copper-colored, exfoliating, very attractive.
• FRUIT: Samara, approximately 1 ½" with wings borne at a 60o to 90o angle. Fruits pubescent and woody.
• PROPAGATION: Seed or cuttings, difficult. Less than 5% of the seeds on most plants are viable.
• PESTS: None serious.
• CULTIVARS:
  • A. nikoense - Beautiful tree for fall color and bark, although the bark is inferior to the other trifoliate maples. Rare in the trade. Leaf and petiole more pubescent than A. griseum.
  • A. mandshuricum - Similar to A. nikoense and more difficult to find.