tree of the month Belfast Botanic Gardens

Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens

Tree of the month series - this series of short articles about trees in the Belfast Botanic Gardens is compiled by members of the Friends group and Gardens staff. We aim to build up to a comprehensive archive of trees in Belfast Botanic Gardens. Each article will illustrate a tree growing in Belfast Botanic Gardens together with information from a range of sources.

Click here to view the tree archive

Tree of the Month, October 2010

Maximowicz's Snakebark Maple

Acer maximowiczii

Jon Pilcher

Another example of the excellent maple collection in Belfast Botanic Gardens, this lovely, rare, small maple was collected by Ernest Wilson in1910 in Central China where it grows in mixed forest from 1800 to 2500m. It is a slow growing small tree with three or five lobed leaves. The bark is attractively striped and the leaves turn spectacular red and purple shades in autumn. The specimen in the Belfast Botanic Gardens is in the grass near the main path from the Botanic School gate to the Botanic Avenue gate (close to the two fern-leaved beech trees).This maple seems to be frequently confused (particularly in web articles and trade lists) with Acer maximowiczianum (Nikko maple).The latter maple has a compound leaf with three separate leaflets quite unlike the lobed leaves of A. maximowiczii. Another maple with three leaflets, A. triflorum, grows near the A. maximowiczii in the Botanic Gardens.


Acer maximowiczii in Belfast Botanic Gardens - summer	Acer maximowiczii in Belfast Botanic Gardens - autumn

Young leaves	Autumn leaves

Bark of Acer maxinowiczii