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Old 06-25-2007, 09:33 PM   #3
geodood
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac-Saxxon
Hey Geodude This Mikawa Yatsubusa looks like it could be from another family and not a Maple tree. I was wondering can you cut those babies at the base and get you a can of Maple Syrup ? Very nice photo gallery you have. How fast do these trees grow and what is the price range ?
Isaac, Mikawa Yatsubusa looks like pot, is that what you are saying? LOL I have heard a few people say that some maple trees look like "weed", but this is rarely the case if you ask me. Maples are deciduous trees. Weed is a weed, right? Maple species have a wide genetic berth so to speak. They mutate into many diverse shapes and sizes.

Having said all that, there are 2 or 3 cultivars out of 400 that do look a bit suspicious. Here is a quick story followed by some info. One time I had some contruction workers doing a job at my house. They left for lunch and while eating, their van was broken into. They called their boss who told them to go back to work and call the police which they did. The police show up at my door and I direct them around the side of the house to where the workers were workering. Around the side, I had about 20 maples in pots. After the police left, I noticed that one of my maples "Fjellheim" was cut down at the trunk. hmmm, that was a $20 maple that got whacked by someone that day.

But back to your post. Mikawa Yatsubusa is an interesting dwarf species of maple that looks "funny" especially when young. You have a sharp eye there Isaac. In my opinion if I had to pick a maple that looked like a weed, this cultivar would one of them. (along with Fjellheim it would appear) Here is an excerpt from J D Vertrees:

"The leaves on this little dwarf overlap each other like shingles on a roof. They are light yellow-green color when first unfolding, the new leaves being bunched up at the shoot tips. The thin-textured leaves become a medium green as they mature. The outer leaves have very bright red tips on the fine red serrations of the margins. The leaves, which are slightly longer than those of other dwarf forms, are 4-6 cm long and 5-6 cm wide. The five or seven lobes are separated two-thirds of the way to the leaf base. Each lobe is oblong-ovate, with a long, tapering point. The margins of the lobes are finely toothed. the leaf base is truncate or subcordate, making all the lobes point forward. The leaf nodes are very close together, and the new shoots are very short and stubby. This makes for a very dense leaf covering on the twigs. The growth is multi-branched, forming a compact little plant. "Mikawa kotohime" is very like this cultivar and fits the above description very closely."

This tree, even when full grown will never see 1 meter in height, which makes it great for bonsai. I planted mine in the ground, but I wish I had it in a pot on the patio. Maybe subconsciously I wanted to hide it from everyone in my bushes...

Thanks for posting about one of my maples Isaac. I really should get back on the ball and blog and post new pictures.
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