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Smoothbark Maple

Acer laevigatum

Also called Nepal Maple, Polished Maple, Smooth Maple

Smoothbark Maple
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0
Family
Sapindaceae (Soapberry & maple family)
Grows as
Tree
Native range
WC. Himalaya to C. & S. China and N. Indo-China
Climate
temperate

About

Acer laevigatum, the smooth maple or Nepal maple, is an atypical species of maple native to southern China (Guizhou, Hong Kong, Hubei, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan), northern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim), northern Myanmar, Nepal, and northern Vietnam. It grows at moderate altitudes of 1,000-2,000 m, with a wet monsoon climate.

Acer laevigatum is an evergreen tree growing to a height of 10–15 m or more, with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The leaves are smooth, unlobed, leathery, olive-green, and about 6–15 cm long and 3–5 cm wide, with a short 1-1.5 cm petiole. The leaves are normally persistent, and only drop in winter in unusually severe frost.

How to grow it

This tree is only rarely seen in maple collections as it is too tender for many locations, with successful cultivation north to Ireland in Europe, and southwest British Columbia in North America. One in Cornwall is 17 m tall (Tree Register of the British Isles).

Other Acer plants

Tapering Leaf Maple · Acer alaskense · Himalayan Maple · Acer amamiense · Broad Maple · Deep-veined Maple · Acer ashwilli · Bearded maple · Jalisco Maple · Acer brevipes · Acer browni · Trident maple

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acer laevigatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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