Acer lobelii
| Acer lobelii | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Sapindaceae |
| Genus: | Acer |
| Species: | A. lobelii |
| Binomial name | |
|
Acer lobelii Ten. |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Acer platanoides subsp. lobelii (Ten.) Gams |
|
Acer platanoides subsp. lobelii (Ten.) Gams
Acer cappadocicum subsp. lobelii (Ten.) De Jong.
Acer lobelii (Lobel's maple) is a rare maple native to southern Italy and the western Balkans.Synonyms include Acer platanoides L. subsp. lobelii (Ten.) Gams and Acer cappadocicum Gled. subsp. lobelii (Ten.) De Jong.
Acer lobelii is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 20–25 metres (66–82 ft) tall with a narrow, erect crown, one of very few trees with a naturally fastigiate form. The bark is greenish-grey, smooth in young trees, becoming browner and shallowly furrowed in mature trees. The shoots are green covered by a thick glaucous blue-white wax at first, this wearing off within a year but the older shoots remaining green for several years.
The leaves are opposite, palmately lobed with five lobes, 6–12 centimetres (2.4–4.7 in) long and 6–15 centimetres (2.4–5.9 in) across; the lobes are entire or with one or two irregular teeth. The leaf stems bleed a milky latex when broken.
The flowers are in corymbs, yellow-green with five sepals 3–4 millimetres (0.12–0.16 in) long; flowering occurs in early spring. The fruit is a double samara with two winged seeds, the seeds are disc-shaped, strongly flattened, 6–11 millimetres (0.24–0.43 in) across and 2–3 millimetres (0.079–0.118 in) thick. The wings are 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long, widely spread, approaching a 180° angle.
The species is rare and endangered in Italy, only occurring scattered in small groups in Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests habitats. It was widely considered endemic in southern Italy, but is now also known in the western Balkans (former Yugoslavia), a distribution fairly closely matched by Pinus heldreichii (Bosnian Pine).
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Wikipedia