Field Maple
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 Field Maple foliage and flowers
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| Acer campestre L. |
Field Maple (Acer campestre) is a maple native to much of Europe, north to southern England (where it is the only native maple), Denmark, Poland and Belarus, and also southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains.
It is a deciduous tree reaching 15-25 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter, with finely fissured, often somewhat corky bark. The leaves are in opposite pairs, 5-12 cm long (including the 3-6 cm petiole), with five blunt, rounded lobes with a smooth margin. The flowers are produced in spring at the same time as the leaves open, yellow-green, in erect clusters 4-6 cm across. The fruit is a samara with two winged seeds aligned at 180°, each seed 8-10 mm wide, flat, with a 2 cm wing.
There are two varieties, not accepted as distinct by all authorities:
- Acer campestre var. campestre
- Acer campestre var. leiocarpum (syn. A. campestre subsp. leiocarpum)
[edit] Ecology
Field maple is an intermediate species in the succession of disturbed areas; it typically is not among the first trees to colonise a freshly disturbed area, but instead seeds in under the existing vegetation. It is very shade-tolerant during the initial stages of its life, but it has higher light requirements during its seed-bearing years. It exhibts rapid growth initially, but is eventually overtaken and replaced by other trees as the forest matures. It is most commonly found on neutral to alkaline soils, more rarely on acidic soil.
[edit] Uses
Field Maple is widely grown as an ornamental tree in parks and large gardens, both in Europe, and North America (where it is sometimes called "Hedge Maple"). The wood is white, hard and strong, and used for furniture and flooring, though the small size of the tree and its relatively slow growth make it an unimportant wood.
[edit] References
- Field maple images and diseases
- Flora Europaea: Acer campestre
- Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
- Nagy, L. & Ducci, F. (2004). EUFORGEN Technical guidelines for genetic conservation and use for field maple (Acer campestre). International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. Rome, Italy.
