Hi Laurie, Thank you for your great pictures collection. It seems that Acer coriaceifolium is an old name (Leveille 1912) for Acer cinnamomifolium (Hayata 1913) and this tree is now known as Acer oblongum var. macrocarpum (Hu 1931). Do you think I can rename this thread as "Acer oblongum var. macrocarpum" ? Thank you.
See no following of this rejection of Acer coriaceifolium in RHS Plant Finder or International Plant Names Index; online Flora of China seems not to have treated Acer yet. Where did you see it?
I found this information here : http://membres.lycos.fr/helardot/page_erables/acer_coriaceifolium.htm But there's nothing about this species on the GRIN list either : http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?66 How come ???
The page at your first link gives Acer coriaceifolium as the main heading, which presumably means they consider that the accepted name. GRIN is a germplasm network, probably nobody in the network has germplasm of this species. Maples for Gardens also uses A. coriaceifolium, but that has been out for awhile so I didn't mention it earlier, internet resources sometimes being recently updated.
A synonym for this species is Acer cinnamomifolium, which is how it is labeled at the Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, and how it is labeled in commerce at the handful of specialty nurseries in the Pacific Northwest which carry it, with the exception of one which lists it as Acer coriaceifolium (cinnamomifolium). It is likely not listed in the sources cited above because it is extremely rare. It is from subtropical regions of Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces in China, as well as Taiwan, and is hardy only to USDA Z8. I do not advocate changing the name at this time as I understand that this is how this species is referenced in many current scholarly works. This species is treated as follows in the references cited (Note that it is not addressed in de Beaulieu, An Illustrated Guide to Maples (Timber Press 2001): Acer coriaceifolium: Proceedings of the International Maple Symposium 2002 (Westonbirt Arboretum). Acer coriaceifolium Leveille (syn. A. cinnamomifolium Hayata): van Gelderen, Maples for Gardens: A Color Encyclopedia (Timber Press 1999); van Gelderen, Maples of the World (Timber Press 1994). Acer cinnamomifolium Hayata (A. coriaceifolium Leveille): Harris, The Gardener's Guide to Growing Maples (Timber Press 2000). The following photographs were taken at the Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, on November 2001 and October 2005. The tree in the Arboretum is beautiful, healthy, and robust. The tree in our personal collection has been grown in containers for the last five years and since its early youth has been plagued with something that destroys the health and beauty of the leaves. You can see the beginning of this in the leaf in the lower right corner of one of the photographs above, but I will address that at some point in the Maples forum. Please note that the first year I had this tree, I believe that I accidentally broke off a stem, so I planted it in a pot and covered it with plastic and left it on the outdoor step. It did indeed root and did not lose any leaves, but I removed the plastic too soon in the cool spring. I believe that is why it did not survive. As beautiful as this tree is in the Arboretum, for evergreen maples I recommend Acer fabri, which is hardier (at least to USDA Z7 according to van Gelderen), not as vigorous, much more lacy as evergreens go with somewhat weeping rather than fairly stiff upright branching, lovely green versus unremarkable tan bark on young trees, and offers gorgeous burgundy contrast with new growth.
You're right Ron. Here's the answer I just received from GRIN : Unless the statement "all ## accepted species are in GRIN" appears in the genus report <http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?66> for a given genus, it cannot be assumed that all members of a genus are present in GRIN. Currently we have only 86 out of some 124 (as treated in a recent book) species of Acer represented in our data. These mainly represent those species that have been introduced into our National Plant Germplasm System. For some groups, especially important agricultural groups, our representation is more complete than for others. Regards, _______________________________________________________________________ John H. Wiersema, Ph.D. Curator of GRIN Taxonomy (www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/index.pl) So I think now that Acer coriaceifolium is the right name for this species.
Some additional pics for this tender evergreen species. My tree is seed grown from seed collected in their natural range. I almost lost it two years ago when I forgot to enter the pot when frost hit my area, most of the top growth died. Fortunately some lower buds made it and the plant has sprouted back to healthy growing now. Due to that experience I hesitate to plant it in the ground. I may try to get a second plant to test that ;-)) Picture taken today Gomero
Here are a couple pictures of enthusiastic new growth on my A. coriaceifolium, received from Esveld some weeks ago labeled cinnamomifolium, perhaps simply to avoid confusion with A x coriaceum which was also on the stock list at the time. Be this as it may, the taxon is now treated in Flora of China as A. coriaceifollium Leveille 1912, so I don't think there is any further question that cinnamomifolium is a synonym. A very attractive plant. -E
