The Field Maple

The Field Maple

Acer Campestre

Our own native Maple (Acer) is performing at its best at this time of the year. Its Canadian cousins are better known with their  bright red foliage in the Fall, but here this delicate and beautiful little tree, easily over looked in the summer months, changes to hues of rust, bright yellows and reds.  All these colours exist in the leaves all the year round, but its only in the Autumn, when the green chlorophyll dies, that these dormant colours come through. Our Field Maples are not usually planted as densely as Canadian Maples but appear as individual trees in native woodland or as hedging plants.

As a free standing tree, the Field Maple is not very tall, up to 26 metres in height, with delicate, long, five lobed leaves, measuring 4-12 cm, with the two basal lobes being smaller than the upper three. The leaves are delicate and lacey and the colour changes in the Autumn can be seen clearly in a line of native hedging.

I am going to plant some Field Maples to fill in the gaps in my native hedge because of the lovely autumn colour they give and they don’t have any thorns !

Athene English