Acer campestre is a slow-growing, medium-sized shade tree for lawn or street. It can also be a large shrub used in hedges. Hedge Maple is rounded, dense of foliage, low-branching, and adaptable to alkaline and compacted soils.
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F E A T U R E S |
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Form
-small- to medium-sized shade tree, or large shrub
-also found as a limbed up, small- to medium-sized tree for the residential landscape
-slowly maturing to 30' tall x 30' wide under optimum conditions, but often half that size in urban situations, or even less if sheared into hedge form
-upright oval growth habit in youth, quickly becoming rounded and spreading with age
-slow growth rate |
Foliage
-opposite arrangement, dark green, and densely arranged along the twigs, about 3" long and wide, with palmate venation, and exuding a milky sap when the petiole is cut
-the leaf blade is 5-lobed; the basal 2 lobes much smaller than the upper 3, and each of the upper lobes incised and usually rounded, but not serrated
-autumn color is yellow to yellowish-green; not striking |
Flowers
-green inflorescences in early May are noticeable but ornamentally insignificant |
Fruit
-2 small joined green samaras per stalk, having widely divergent and prominent wings, in pendulous clusters from the stems and maturing as brown fruits in Oct. |
Twig
-brown stems with gray buds
-some selections have prominent corky or "winged" twigs |
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Trunk
-light brown to gray branches may have a slight degree of striation on some specimens
-trunks becoming light gray and fissured at maturity |
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C U L T
U R E
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Culture
-full sun to partial sun
-prefers moist, well-drained soils in full sun, but tolerates urban conditions (dry soils, compacted soils, alkaline soils, heat, and drought) much better than most Maples
-few disease or pest problems
-limited availability in either single-trunked or multi-trunked tree form, and in shrub form |
Hardiness
-zones 4 to 8
Origin
-native to Europe, Near East, and Africa
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U S A G E |
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Assets
-urban tolerant
-low mature height for a shade tree (good for under power lines)
-dense summer shade
-of the many Maples, one that is particularly adaptable (tolerant of acidic, neutral, or alkaline soil pH)
Liabilities
-shallow root system can surface with age
-usually has poor autumn color
-slow growth rate |
Function
-small tree or large shrub, planted for shade, specimen, hedge, or street tree use
Texture
-medium texture in foliage and when bare
-thick density in foliage and when bare |
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S E L
E C T I 0 N S |
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Varieties
and Cultivars
- Search
OSU PlantFacts for additional plants in this species
Alternates
-good small- to medium-sized street trees (Crataegus x lavallei, Koelreuteria paniculata, Malus 'Red Baron', Tilia cordata 'Greenspire', etc.) |