Acer sempervirens

Acer sempervirens (Cretan maple) is a species of maple native to southern Greece and southern Turkey.[3][4][5]

Cretan Maple (Asfendamos), Dikti Mountains, Crete

Cretan maple
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Sapindales
Family:
Sapindaceae[1]
Genus:
Acer
Species:
A. sempervirens
Binomial name
Acer sempervirens
L. 1767
Synonyms[2]
  • Acer heterophyllum Willd.
  • Acer humile Salisb.
  • Acer orientale L.
  • Acer willkommii Wettst.

Acer sempervirens is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub or small tree, one of the very few evergreen species in the genus. It grows to 10 metres (33 ft) tall with a trunk up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in diameter. The bark is dark grey, smooth in young trees, becoming scaly and shallowly fissured in mature trees. The shoots are green at first, becoming dull brown in the second year. The leaves are opposite, hard and leathery in texture, 1–4 centimetres (0.39–1.57 in) long and 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) across, glossy dark green with a yellow 1 centimetre (0.39 in) petiole, variably unlobed or three-lobed (often on the same shoot); the lobes have an entire (toothless) margin. The flowers are yellow-green, produced in small pendulous corymbs. The fruit is a double samara with two rounded, winged seeds, the wings 1.5–3 centimetres (0.59–1.18 in) long, spread at an acute angle.[4][6][7]

It is one of the most drought- and heat-tolerant species in the genus, occurring on dry, sunny hillsides at moderate elevations. It is closely related to Acer monspessulanum from further north and west in Europe, differing from it in being a smaller, often shrubby tree, and in its smaller, evergreen leaves.[4]

Cultivation and uses

Cretan maple is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in western Europe; it was introduced to Britain in 1752.[6]

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References
  1. Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 [and more or less continuously updated since]. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/.
  2. The Plant List, Acer sempervirens L.
  3. Med-Checklist: Acer sempervirens
  4. Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins. ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
  5. Encyclopedia of Life
  6. Mitchell, A. F. (1982). The Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins. ISBN 0-00-219037-0.
  7. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
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