Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Acer palmatum
Common name
Japanese Maple
Family
Sapindaceae
Where found
Garden escape. Urban bushland and gardens. Sydney area south to Wollongong. Blue Mountains. Canberra. Rarely elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced deciduous shrub or tree to about 7 m high. Leaves opposite each other, 5–10 cm long, 50-100 mm wide, deeply lobed with 5–11 lobes, occasionally completely divided, virtually hairless, usually with a tuft of short hairs near the attachment of the leaf stalk, margins irregulary toothed. Colouful leaves in Autumn. Bisexual and male flowers on the same plant. Flowers with 4-6 purplish-red sepals about 3 mm long, and 4-6 petals, pale yellowish or tinged pink, shorter than the sepals. Flowers in short drooping clusters to about 4 cm long. Flowers appearing with or before the leaves. Flowers Sep.–Oct. 'Seeds' red, turning pinky red, finally beige, about 15 mm long, with 1 wing, in pairs.
Family was Aceraceae.
VICFLORA description: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/283b2e3a-db31-4db1-a845-d732610df06e (accessed 2 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
