|
|
|
|
Maple Fun Facts The World Checklist of Maple Cultivar Names published in 2008 has over 3,800 named maple cultivars which includes four registered by Metro Maples. A magnificent specimen of Acer palmatum 'Kurihara shidare' was transplanted in its current location in Kanagawa from Kyoto in 1186, making it over 800 years old. However it is not as old as the Brstilecone Pines in the White Mountains of California, one of which is reported to be 4,600 years old. The word acer comes from the old European word ac, which means sharp, possible referring to the pointed leaf lobes. Maple planks were used in building the Trojan Horse and is used today for bowling alleys, gymnasiums, and is beginning to replace ash for baseball bats. Maple syrup comes from tree sap and is not sweet until it is reduced by boiling. It takes about 8 to 30 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Indians flavored their food with it. Besides providing a burst of energy for them, modern science says it also contains phosphates that help to promote calcium retention in bones. The only truly tropical maple is Acer laurinum from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. All the other 229 taxa are deciduous and produce fall colors unrivaled by any other genus. The first cultivar of a Shantung maple is Fire Dragon® maple. In 1998 the little seedling was set off to the side in an out of the way place for reasons I don't remember, but assume I did this because it was a red fall color. In the fall of 1999 I noticed a bright red tree and wondered what it was doing over there. After watching it for a couple of more years I knew I had to propagate this tree when the fall colors were as good or better than the Japanese maples. Squirrels may wound young maples to drink the sap, but human beings cause the most extensive damage with mowing machines, weedkillers, vandalism, road salts, construction, etc. Canada has a sugar maple leaf on its flag but the original Revolutionary flag of the American colonies bore a white pine. Years before the Boston Tea Party settlers were upset that Britain was reserving all the best pines for ship Masts for the British Crown. Maple and spruce are used in violins and the Stradavarius is thought to benefit from the maples that grew during the little ice age in the sixteeth century. Curly maple wood is beautiful and very rare and curly maple chairs, tables, or grandfather clocks from early American history are priced in the millions of dollars. In China a study using pines, ash, and Shantung maples is currently being performed to determine which one sequesters carbon dioxide the best. North America is estimated to have been half-covered with trees before the loggers came. Today it is one-third covered and is estimated to contain 245 billion trees. Metro Maple's trees produce enough oxygen to keep 80 people breathing every year. North America has more maple species than Europe where it is thought that many European maples went extinct during the ice age as they ran into the Alps which run east and west. In America the maples retreated south along the north and south running mountains. China and Japan have the most maple species as they were not affected by the ice age. It is thought that the beginning of the maple genus started in China. Many maples in America have a similar counterpart in Japan and gives further proof that millions of years ago the continents were joined together. Japanese maples are called Momijii (mo me gee) in Japan and don't be surprised if I call them that at Metro Maples since that is their real name. It is estimate that the owner of Metro Maples cut and hauled away 200 miles of Smilax briar, if laid end to end, to make room for growing maples. The red pigment, anthocyanin, is thought to be produced in new growing leaves to filter out harmful ultra-violet rays and to capture blue light which has the most energy for building chloroplasts and chlorophyll. However scientist cannot explain why anthocyanin would be produced in the fall when UV rays are low and energy for metabolism is not needed. The earliest maple fossils were found in Alaska, Greenland, and Iceland around 100 million years ago when the planet was warmer and there were no ice sheets. Metro Maples hours of 8am-2pm was started so that Keith could get home in time to teach some afternoon clarinet lessons. The first Japanese maple to arrive in the U.S. went to Long Island, New York in 1862.
References: Japanese Maples, J. D. Vertrees with Peter Gregory, 2007 Timber Press. Maples of the World, D. M. van Gelderen, P.C. de Jong, H. J. Oterddom, 1994 Timber Press. North American Trees, Gerald Jonas, 1993 Reader's Digest Association. Remarkable Trees of the World, Thomas Pakenham, 2002 W. W. Norton, London. The Maple Society Newsletter, various, The Maple Society, www.maplesociety.org
|
Send
questions or comments about this web site to - metromaples@yahoo.com
|