Acer palmatum

COMMON NAME: Fullmoon Maple, Japanese Red Maple

FAMILY: Maple Family; Aceraceae

GROWTH HABIT: Small (15 - 25 ft), graceful tree with slender, sinuous branches forming a rounded or flat-topped crown.

FOLIAGE: Simple, opposite, deciduous. 1 1/2 - 4 in. long and wide. Star-like, with 5 - 7 pointed lobes. Small, sharply pointed teeth; prominent palmate venation. Base slightly heart-shaped, straight across or broadly wedge-shaped. Glabrous or with tufts of hair in the vein axils below. Petiole slender, glabrous. Leaf color varies with the cultivar.

BUDS: Tend toward valvate character, small, green or red, hidden by base of petiole, frequently double terminal buds.

BARK: Smooth, light brown or gray, often marked with pale, vertical strips.

FLOWERS: Purplish-red, in small erect or spreading clusters, with leaves in the spring (May - June).

FRUIT: Small, delicate twin samaras attached at a wide angle, each 1/2 - 1 1/4 in. long.

NATIVE HABITAT: Japan; Korea.