Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands

Common name: Esdoorn

Family: Sapindaceae (Soapberry family)

Distribution: Japan

Hardiness: Zone 06

Life form: Tree

Comments: This tree grows in the wild in Japan and was introduced to Leiden’s botanical garden by Von Siebold in 1860. The tree remains small but grows relatively wide, with trifoliate leaves that turn a beautiful red and yellow in autumn. At first sight its leaves do not resemble maple leaves at all. Each leaf has an undulate margin and a fairly long petiole that is often red in colour. It flowers in May, with dense clusters of cream-coloured four-petalled flowers, which in autumn become the well-known winged fruits.