Scientific Name : Acer tutcheri Duthie
Common Name : Tutcher's Maple
Chinese Name : 嶺南槭
Family : ACERACEAE
Local distribution status : Native species
| Origins | Hong Kong, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan. |
|---|---|
| Meanings of name | W. J. Tutcher (1868-1920) was credited with his first observation of Tutcher's Maple from Lantau Island in 1894. On account of the type specimen being collected in Hong Kong, it is listed in Rare and Precious Plants of Hong Kong (category 4) for valuing its small number. |
| Ecology | Tutcher's Maple is distributed in thin forests, however trees do not form in crowded canopy. The fruit colour of it attracts a lot of insects.The fruit is winged and allows it to catch a breeze and travel for a long distance without any aid of animals. |
| Application | The leaf colour of Tutcher’s Maple is decorative in the autumn and its fruit is red. As a result, it is always planted in China as a visual alternative to evergreen trees in gardens and parks. |
| Tutcher's Maple and Liquidambar formosana (Chinese Sweet Gum) | Tutcher's Maple is outwardly imperceptible to Chinese Sweet Gum with similar leaf shape in 3 lobes. Without careful observation, it is difficult to distinguish the two. To distinguish the trees, the leaves of Chinese Sweet Gum are arranged alternately, whereas those of Tutcher's Maple are opposite. On the contrary of the fruits of Chinese Sweet Gum which are globose capsules with needle like appendages, those of Tutcher's Maple are samaras. Last but a pivotal tip, the wild Tutcher's Maple is biogeographically confined to certain areas such as Ma On Shan and Sunset Peak in Hong Kong and barely planted as an ornamental tree, unlike Chinese Sweet Gum which is predominant in forests and urban areas. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | 5-10m, up to 15 m. |
| Stems | Bark brown or dark brown, smooth. Branchlets purplish green when immature, glabrous. |
| Leaves | Simple leaves opposite. blade membranous, broadly ovate, usually 3-5 lobed, lobes margin sparsely serrulate, base rounded or subtruncate, apex acuminate, glabrous, sometimes tufts at the junctions of abaxial veins, basal veins 3. |
| Flowers | Andromonoecious. Panicles terminal. Petals 4, pale yellowish white, stamens 8, red. |
| Fruits | Samara turning red to yellowish at maturity, wings spreading acutely or nearly horizontally, arranged in a Chinese word ‘人’. |
| Flowering period | April in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | September in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website
https://www.herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=3354
Scientific names from other databases
― Flora of China : Acer tutcheri Duthie
― Plants of the World Online : Acer tutcheri Duthie