Scientific Name
Acer ginnala
Also referred to as ginnala maple, this is a small, often multi-trunk, tree is native to northern China and the Russian Far East (where the Amur River is located). Amur maples will generally not exceed 20 feet in height; state champions are under 30 feet. The tree is very adaptable to urban cultivation and can be pruned to assume a shape to fit many sites. Even if tightly pruned, it will likely develop into an interesting and individualistic form. It has leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and its small paired-wing seeds can show a good red color by August and often remain on the tree late in the fall or even through the winter months. The fall color is often very attractive with ample reds and oranges. This is one of the earliest trees to leaf out in the spring, which often exposes the tender new foliage to one of Denver’s famous spring freezes, but the leaves are resistant to damage down into the mid-20 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the most cold-hardy maple, tolerating winter lows down to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which is one of the reasons it has been planted in Front Range cities for over a hundred years. This adaptability has also caused it to end up on invasive plant lists in some northeastern states, where more humid conditions allow its seeds to gain a foothold.
There is some botanic controversy about whether this tree is a distinct species or rather a subspecies of the Tatarian maple, the latter mostly present in our region in the form of the cultivar ‘Hot Wings.’ However, the leaves of this tree are smaller and far more deeply lobed than those of the Tatarian, and the tree also takes a more convoluted form. A final argument for species rank is that the ginnala maple’s native range is several thousand miles separated from the Tatarian’s, which is one of the fundamental means by which different species evolve.