Manchurian maple: a welcome guest from South Primorye

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

Manchurian maple is a native inhabitant of the Far East. Unusually beautiful in autumn, like all representatives of this genus belonging to the Salind family.

Manchurian maple: description

The height of the tree in natural growing conditions is from fifteen to twenty meters.

The trunk diameter of natural maple can be up to sixty centimeters.

The crown of the Manchurian maple has an oblong-oval graceful shape.

The bark is brownish-gray, smooth when young, becomes darker with time and becomes covered first with small, then deeper cracks.

Redish touching petioles end in complex trifoliate leaves.

The long leaves in them have a lanceolate (or elliptical) shape, the color shade is darker on top (almost dark green), lighter on the bottom (almost light green). In young leaves, pubescence grows along the veins in spring, which disappears by mid-summer.

Tree puts out bare young reddish-brown shoots with pointed spindle-shaped buds, initially covered with dense scales that fall off gradually.

The juice of the plant contains up to two percent sugar, which is comparable to the famous Canadian plants containing up to 3 percent sucrose.

The inflorescences of the tree are corymbose, have from three to six flowers. The Manchurian maple blooms at the same time as the leaves bloom.

By autumn, the fruit ripens - a double lionfish. Under natural conditions, the seeds are carried by the wind to a distance of 20-30 meters in the absence of barriers. The weight of one seed is 0.07 g.

The root system of the Manchurian maple is located in a horizontal position, widely distributed almost at the same level.

Historical age of representatives of the Maple species

According to paleontological studies, the Maple genus developed rapidly at the beginning of the Tertiary period (from 65 million years ago to 1.8 million). Starting from the middle of this period (Miocene), due to cooling, maples simply began to move south. With the advent of the Last Ice Age (Pliocene), many heat-loving maples, ubiquitous in Eurasia, died out, while others formed new species.

Siberia remained a territory without maple trees, forming a kind of dividing line between the European maple distribution area and the Far East. Thus, in the territories of the Russian Primorye, Japan and Central China (where there was no glaciation, and the climate remained mild), some ancient maple species from the Tertiary period were preserved.

The natural range of the Manchu maple extends to the territoryFar East, Korea and Manchuria.

Manchurian maple: description of distribution in the Russian Federation

In Russia, representatives of the family grow in natural conditions exclusively in Southern Primorye in deciduous forests, also found in mixed and coniferous forests.

Manchurian maple is completely undemanding to the soil, winter-hardy enough.

According to the observations of Russian scientists, cultivated Manchurian maples can grow even in the conditions of the taiga zone. Restrictions come under the conditions of average monthly temperatures, north of 64 degrees north latitude. (approximate coordinates of Arkhangelsk) planting this plant is problematic.

Manchurian maple has been growing in the Moscow region for a long time. This species was studied on the territory of the Forest Experimental Dacha of the Academy of Agriculture. The Manchurian maple, whose height here reaches 15 meters, is presented in large quantities on the territory of the 6th quarter of Dacha.

Its openwork crown and purple tones perfectly set off the sparse pine forest of artificial (like maple) origin. In terms of height, the Manchurian maple occupies the second tier here.

Terms of plant development

Manchurian maple is a mid-flowering maple species, along with sycamore, false sybold, yellow and spiky. Flowering begins in mid-May. In September - early October (depending on temperature and humidity), maple leaves turn into a wonderful purple color, and then the leaf fall immediately begins. The trees go into dormancy. March-April warming is characterized by the beginningsap flow, maple enters the active phase.

The annual growth of a young plant reaches up to forty to sixty centimeters per year. Under natural conditions, Manchurian maple can grow up to 80-100 years.

Decorative use

The unusual large leaves of the green Manchurian maple, its bright purple (sometimes even turning into dark pink) coloring attract the attention of not only nature lovers, but also landscape designers. The use of the plant in landscaping dates back to the early twentieth century.

The work of British nurseries on the cultivation of the Manchurian maple is well known. Although breeders are faced with the problem of early frosts against the backdrop of high daytime temperatures, typical for Foggy Albion in the spring.

Today, Manchurian maple is represented by many nurseries both in container culture (for further transplantation) and in bonsai culture.

Reproduction conditions

For landscaping in the conditions of the Russian Federation, high-quality seed material is needed that has been acclimatized in the conditions of the middle lane. The use by many Russian nurseries of foreign sowing material (or taken from the Far East) in the form of rooted cuttings does not always give winter-hardy shoots. Maple trees grown from seeds are excellent acclimatizers and grow in frosty winters.