Miyabe Maple                A-ser mi-YA-bee-I

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, 65-80 ft (~20-25 m), upright oval habit.  Gray-brown to orange-brown, corky when young, becoming broken and fissured, becoming scaly with a fluted trunk.  Leaves opposite, simple, 10-15 cm long, five-lobed, lobes have indentations and end in a rounded point, dark green above, lower side olive green with tufts of hairs in axils; yellow-green veins visible; petiole yellow, 15 cm long, yields a milky latex when cut.  Fall color is pale yellow to golden.  Flowers appear with expanding leaves, they are small, yellow-green, in 10-12 cm long upright clusters.  Fruit (samara), nutlet covered with pubescence, 2 cm long, wings horizontal.
• Sun to light shade.   Species not commonly found in landscapes.  However, a selection called Street Tree® is now readily available.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4          Native to northern Japan (Hokkaido Island), found along river banks and in forests, often with Acer pictum (van Gelderen and van Gelderen, 1999).  It is an endangered species in the wild.
• miyabei:  after the Japanese botanist Kingo Miyabe (1860-1951).  He discovered the tree at a stop during a train ride; it was described by Karl Maximowicz in 1888.