Acer circinatum Pursh

Vine Maple

A small, rounded tree or occasionally multi-stemmed shrub with waxy branchlets often sticky at the tip. Leaves 6-12 cm wide, with 7-9 shallow-pointed lobes, edged with a double row of teeth, cordate at the base. Upper surface pale green, undersurface covered at first with fine hair; reddish orange in autumn. Flowers relatively large, with purple sepals and white petals, pendulous. Fruits to 4 cm long and 1 cm wide, wings spread at 180°, red at first.

N America.

Young branchlets slightly sticky; leaves double-toothed; fruit wings widely spread.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Aceraceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Hero image

Acer circinatum 'Little Gem'

Small, dense plant to 1 m tall with crowded small leaves. Origin Canada, derived from a witches' broom.

Acer circinatum 'Monroe'

Dense, stiff-branched shrub, leaves deeply cut, becoming yellow. Discovered w. Monroe, Portland, Oregon, usa, along Mackenzie River, early 1960s, int. c. 1970.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Rosanae
order      Sapindales
family       Sapindaceae
genus        Acer L.