Along Upper Asian Way in UBC Botanical Garden is one spot that is a favourite of mine in October. Here, two poorly-known cultivars of downy Japanese maple face each other on opposite sides of the path: Acer japonicum 'O-taki' and Acer japonicum 'O-isami'. Both colour in rich shades of gold and red, and, to my memory, reliably so in Vancouver's climate.
The maple enthusiasts who participate on the maples forum have shared a few more photographs of Acer japonicum 'O-taki' throughout the seasons in the maple photograph gallery.
Wikipedia provides a broad summary of this species and its cultivars, with particular emphasis on a description of the species as well as characteristics that distinguish it from other maples with a similar appearance: Acer japonicum.
'O-Taki': Waterfall, in Japanese, likely referring to its wonderful summer green form.
I used to live in New York and miss the fall color displays. Now I'm in Oregon -- still colorful but not nearly at spectacular as back east. This picture brings back the memories. Thanks.
When did the maples move to the Sapindaceae?
We tend to follow the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and its classification system for flowering plant families (see Sapindaceae). The Wikipedia article on Aceraceae explains the situation a bit.
As to the question of when, hmm... we've been using it for quite some time now (2000? 2001?) here at UBC BG. Looking back through the reference list of one of the articles from the Wikipedia link, I think somewhere between 1992 and 1996, if you use that classification system for plants.
The colours of the leaves are really great. It is so nice to see a photograph of Asian Acer. Around here we have many, many sugar maples with have wonderful colours.
Thank you,
Margaret-Rae
Gorgeous photograph. Especially with the bit of green.