Medium-sized tree. Branchlets downy at first. Bark peeling, spectacular orangebrown. Leaves with 3 ovate leaflets, each with 3-5 pairs of large teeth, waxy-blue below; orange-yellow in autumn. Fruit 3-5 cm long.

China.

Bark ornamental, orange and peeling. Acer triflorum has a rougher bark with prominent vertical lines and leaves that are more or less yellow in autumn. In both species the leaflets are waxy-blue below.

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.