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What Acer is this?

Yannick RiviereYannick Riviere Posts: 2
in Plants

Hi,

 

I am curious about which Acers these two are.

They appeared last year next to a fern I planted, so they must have been inside the container I got.

They look similar to an Acer Rubrum, but the leaves seem slightly different to me.

The pictures show this year’s new leaves.

They turn green eventually, if I remember well image

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Enjoy your day!

 

Yannick

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Posts

  • Daryl2Daryl2 Posts: 452

    I wonder if they might be just plain sycamore seedlings that have germinated in the pot. Some can be a bit reddish when they are young. 

    Are there any sycamores nearby?

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I fear that's the most likely.



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • HCAHCA Posts: 129

    Hi, not a sycamore I suspect, the tips of the lobes are too fine and pointed.  I would also say that Acer rubrum lobes tend to be more rounded also and not so deeply divided.  My best bet at this stage of development would be Silver maple, Acer saccharinum although the leaf colour is quite dark for this species.  I would expect the leaf to turn green as it matures.  Maples can be tricky at this age, would you recollect collecting seed at some stage?

    Whatever it is it is worth potting on and see how it develops.

  • Invicta2Invicta2 Posts: 663

    Yannick

    Are you in the UK or USA?

    If it is the UK I would be surprised if were either A.rubrum or A.saccharinum as they rarely set viable seed in the UK for climate reasons. Whilst i would not rule out Sycamore, I think it might be a seedling from one of the red/purple clones of A.platanoides the Norway maple.

  • HCAHCA Posts: 129

    Good question Invicta and Acer platanoides is a possibility although I do not think I have ever seen one that colour in the spring.  It is also possible that the images are showing a junvenile tendency (i.e. not like their parents) which is quite common in maples.

  • SueG1SueG1 Posts: 41

    Acer platanoides, they're quite often this deep red colour when they first grow, you'll find that they turn greener as they mature.

  • Yannick RiviereYannick Riviere Posts: 2

    Hi all.


    First of all: thank you for your responses and their swiftness!

    Looking at the different answers, you can appreciate where my question comes from: tricky business this identifying saplings!image
    I guess things will be more clear once they grow larger, which I certainly enable them to do. The shape and foliage colour looks promisingly beautiful, I think. I will try and add additional pictures later this season.

    Some additional background information, some of which I just learned, hereby.
    I live in Belgium (this, I already knew;-) . The fern I got from my dad, where it resided in his garden.
    There are no Sycamores or Acer Platanoides nearby.
    He suggests they might be ‘Acer saccharinum Lacinatum Wieri’, a Silver Maple variant.
    What say you? ???

    I must say, looking at online pics of leaves attributed to particular species, they not always seem similar or from the same variant to me. One picture of ‘Lacinatum Wieri’ for example can show leaves that look much thinner than others. Not sure always the right pictures are matched to the right species on all sites (even of vendors), or are there that many variations within a single type of tree?

    Do you have any suggestions for websites that can serve as a good input for identifying plant species (except from this one, of courseimage


    Thanks again.
    Have a pleasant day!

  • HCAHCA Posts: 129

    Sounds like that could well be it.  Leaf lobes vary considerably, particularly with seedlings.

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