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Acer platanoides
Also called Norway Maple Variety, Plane
Norway maple is a large, fast-growing deciduous shade tree from Europe and western Asia, usually grown for its broad crown and autumn colour. It tolerates a wide range of conditions, but its size makes it best suited to open spaces rather than small gardens.
Acer platanoides, commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to North America in the mid-1700s as a shade tree. It is a member of the family Sapindaceae.
The wood is hard, yellowish-white to pale reddish, with the heartwood not distinct; it is used for furniture and woodturning. Norway maple sits ambiguously between hard and soft maple with a Janka hardness of 1,010 lbf or 4,500 N. The wood is rated as non-durable to perishable in regard to decay resistance. In Europe, it is used for furniture, flooring and musical instruments, especially for violins.
Norway maple has been widely taken 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 planted as a street and shade tree as far north as Anchorage, Alaska. In Ontario, it is common in cultivation north to Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury; although not considered reliably hardy northward, it has been established at Kapuskasing and Iroquois Falls, and even at Moose Factory. It is most recommended in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 7 but will grow in warmer zones (at least up to Zone 10) where summer heat is moderate, as along the Pacific coast south to the Los Angeles Basin.
Field Maple · Kyushu Maple · Cappadocian maple · Vine maple · Père David's maple · Horned maple · Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala · Paperbark maple · Fullmoon Maple · Lobel's Maple · Bigleaf Maple · Montpellier Maple
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acer platanoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
