Norway Maple

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Plant Characteristics
Habit   tree

Height: 80 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 80.
Width: 50 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 50.
Lifespan: perennial
Origin: Europe, W Asia
Bloom: early spring, mid spring, late spring
Cultivation
Exposure: sun
Features: deciduous
USDA Zones: 4 to 8
Sunset Zones: 1-9, 14-17, 30-43
Scientific Names

Aceraceae >

Acer >

platanoides >


Acer platanoides (Norway Maple) is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and southwest Asia, from France east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran.[1] [2]

It is a deciduous tree growing to 20–30 m tall with a trunk up to 1.5 m diameter, and a broad, rounded crown. The bark is grey-brown and shallowly grooved; unlike many other maples, mature trees do not tend to develop a shaggy bark. The shoots are green at first, soon becoming pale brown; the winter buds are shiny red-brown. The leaves are opposite, palmately lobed with five lobes, 7–14 cm long and 8–20 cm (rarely 25 cm) across; the lobes each bear one to three side teeth, and an otherwise smooth margin. The leaf petiole is 8–20 cm long, and secretes a milky juice when broken. The autumn colour is usually yellow, occasionally orange-red. The flowers are in corymbs of 15–30 together, yellow to yellow-green with five sepals and five petals 3–4 mm long; flowering occurs in early spring before the new leaves emerge. The fruit is a double samara with two winged seeds; the seeds are disc-shaped, strongly flattened, 10–15 mm across and 3 mm thick. The wings are 3–5 cm long, widely spread, approaching a 180° angle. It typically produces a large quantity of viable seeds. It is not particularly a long-lived tree, with a maximum age of around 250 years.[3][4][5][6]

Many cultivars have been selected, with distinctive leaf shape or coloration such as the dark purple of 'Crimson King' and 'Schwedleri', the variegated leaves of 'Drummondii' and 'Emerald Queen', and the deeply divided, feathery leaves of 'Dissectum' and 'Lorbergii'. The purple-foliage cultivars have orange to red autumn colour. 'Columnare' is selected for its narrow upright growth.[4][7]

It has been widely placed into cultivation in other areas, including western Europe northwest of its native range. It grows north of the Arctic Circle at Tromsø, Norway. In North America, it is grown as a street and shade tree. It is favoured due to its tall trunk and tolerance of poor, compacted soils and urban pollution.

As an Invasive Species in North America

Unfortunately, despite its good looks and urban hardiness, it releases chemicals to discourage undergrowth[8] which tends to create bare, muddy run-off conditions immediately under the tree. A. platanoides has been shown to inhibit the growth of native saplings as a canopy tree or as a sapling.[9] As a result of these characteristics it is considered invasive in some states[10] and has been banned in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.[11][12] Norway Maple is one of three species that Meijer Garden Centers no longer sell; Meijer made this decision due to the tree's invasive nature.[13] Despite these steps, Norway Maple is still available and widely used for urban plantings in many areas.


Read about Norway Maple in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Acer platanoides, Linn. Norway Maple. Large tree, to 100 ft.: lvs. 5-lobed, cordate at base, glabrous, light green and lustrous beneath, lobes pointed, remotely dentate with pointed teeth: corymbs glabrous; fls. yellowish green: fr. glabrous, with horizontally spreading wings. Eu., Caucasus. —Large, handsome tree, with round, spreading head, resembling somewhat A. saccharum. The lvs. turn pale yellow in autumn. Many garden forms, some of which are here arranged in two groups, the first being remarkable for the manner in which the lvs. are cut and for the habit; the second being chiefly remarkable for their coloringCH:

(1) Var. cucullatum, Nichols. Lvs. irregularly and shortly lobed, crimped, light green. Var. dissectum, Jacq. Similar to var. Lorbergii, but with darker foliage and of slower growth. Var. globosum, Nichols. Forming a globose head. Var. laciniatum, Ait. Lvs. irregularly divided, the divisions bending downward: growth upright. Var. Lorbergii, Van Houtte. Lvs. divided nearly to the base, divisions deeply lobed. Var. columnare,Carr. Habit columnar.CH

(2) Var. albovariegatum, Nichols. Lvs. with large white blotches. Var. aureomarginatum, Pax. Lvs. with yellow margin, somewhat irregularly lobed. Var. rubrum, Herd. (var. Reitenbachii, Nichols.). Lvs. greenish red when unfolding, turning dark blood-red in late summer. Var. Geneva, Ellwanger & Barry, is probably not much different. Var. Schwedleri, Koch. Lvs. bright red when young, changing to dark green. Var. Stollii, Spaeth. More upright-growing: lvs. usually 3-lobed, with entire lobes, purple when unfolding, later dark green. Var. Wittmackii, Schwerin. Lvs. usually 3-lobed, with an irregularly dentate and undulate yellow margin, reddish brown when unfolding, later bright green with most of the tips transformed into peculiar reddish brown appendages becoming, finally, dark green. Var. Drummondii, Drumm. Lvs. green with white margin, red when unfolding. CH


The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.



More information about this species can be found on the genus page.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

Norway Maple itself is threatened in a few areas by the Asian long-horned beetle, which eats through the trunk of trees, often killing them.

A number of species of Lepidoptera feed on Norway Maple foliage; see Lepidoptera that feed on maples. Norway Maple is generally free of serious diseases, though can be attacked by the powdery mildew Uncinula bicornis, and verticillium wilt disease caused by Verticillium spp.[14]

Cultivars

Leaf of 'Schwedleri'.
  • 'Cavalier'
  • 'Cleveland' and 'Cleveland II'
  • 'Columnare'
  • 'Crimson King'
  • 'Deborah'
  • 'Drummondii'
  • 'Faasen's Black'
  • 'Globe'
  • 'Green Lace'
  • 'Jade Glen'
  • 'Parkway'
  • 'Royal Red Leaf'
  • 'Schwedler' ('Schwedleri')
  • 'Summershade'

Gallery

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References

External links


  1. Flora Europaea: Acer platanoides distribution
  2. Den virtuella floran: Acer platanoides distribution
  3. Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Mitchell, A. F. (1974). A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-212035-6
  5. Mitchell, A. F. (1982). The Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-219037-0
  6. Norwegian Botanical Association: Acer platanoides photos
  7. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
  8. http://www.toronto.ca/trees/pdfs/Fact_3_Controlling_Invasive_Plants.pdf
  9. Shannon L. Galbraith-Kent and Steven N. Handel (2008). "Invasive Acer platanoides inhibits native sapling growth in forest understorey communities". Journal of Ecology 96 (2): 293–302. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01337.x. 
  10. Swearingen, J., Reshetiloff, K., Slattery, B., & Zwicker, S. (2002). "Norway Maple". Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
  11. Carol Ness. "Norway Maple". Virginia Cooperative Extension.
  12. Sally Kerans (May 31, 2007). "Invasive plants: Old standards get bad name". Danvers Herald.
  13. The Nature Conservancy. "The Nature Conservancy and Meijer Encourage Non-Invasive Plants". The Nature Conservancy.
  14. Phillips, D. H., & Burdekin, D. A. (1992). Diseases of Forest and Ornamental Trees. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-49493-8.