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Common Name

Hedge maple

Scientific Name

  Acer campestre L. (Sapindaceae, Sapindales)

Inventory Numbers: 627


The Hedge maple (Acer campestre) is a slow growing medium-size and low-branched shade tree. It is often used as street tree and pruned for growing hedges. It is native to much of Europe and parts of Asia. The leaves of the hedge maple are densely arranged opposite along the twigs. They have 5 lobes with the two lobes closest to the stem smaller than the three upper lobes. The leaves turn yellowish in the fall. The trunk is light brown with grey branches. The genus name comes from the Latin for Maple tree. Campestre, the species name, means in Latin “from the fields”. Its common name describes its use as a tall hedge. In England it is used in hedgerows.


Specimen Provenance:

Common name: Hedge Maple, Field Maple

Species Origin: N. Africa, SW Asia, Europe.

New Jersey Status: USDA Introduced

Habit: 25 – 35’ tall x 25 – 35’ wide.

Habitat: Zone 5 -8. Found in the wild in woods, plains,hills along rivers.

Trunk/Stem: Bark pale brown, corky, fissured with age.

Leaves: Deciduous, Simple, Opposite. Palmately lobed leaves, 3 “ x 4” with five lobes, heart-shaped at the base, dark green above, pale and downy beneath turning yellow in autumn. Leaf stalk with milky juice when cut. Larger lobes have smaller lobes near the tip.

Flowers: Monoecious. Small and green, borne in upright culsters in spring with leaves.

Fruits and seeds: Samara, 1” long, with widely-spread (180o) wings sometime red when young.

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