Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands

Common name: Japanse esdoorn, Full Moon Maple, Japanese Maple

Family: Sapindaceae (Soapberry family)

Hardiness: Zone 05

Life form: Tree

Comments: The Japanese maple grows in the wild in several parts of East Asia: in Japan, but also Korea and China. The famous German scholar Von Siebold introduced it to the Netherlands after 1830. However, England was the first place outside Japan where this cultivar ‘Aconitifolium’ was grown. This specimen has been in Leiden’s botanical garden since 1938.
It is a slow-growing tree, which grows up to six metres tall at most and often grows shrublike. The bark and branches of this species are grey to greyish-brown and smooth. Its leaves are large, lobed and deeply divided and turn dark red/orange-red in autumn. The flowers are hanging stalked purplish-red corymbs and appear from April to May. The fruits of the Japanese maple are winged samaras, which grow in pairs and fall to the ground spinning.