is when they say that its twigs and leaves are effective for pain relief, combatting free radicals, and treating carbuncles (Bi, 2016:35) – none of which are functions the Japanese maple has traditionally been used for! 2. Ironically, the one time the authors do mention Acer palmatum thunb. However, the authors note that only a very limited amount of research on the maple genus has been done, and that further studies are needed before anyone can be very confident about the medicinal properties of any of the maple species. Most of the article does not refer to the Japanese maple specifically, but rather other species in the maple family. They also consulted libraries and herbaria both in the USA and in China to find out about the traditional and cultural uses of the Japanese maple. ![]() The authors systematically reviewed literature from books and journals from a number of physical and electronic libraries and databases, published from 1922 to 2015. This article, by Wu Bi, Ying Gao, Jie Shen, Chunnian He, Haibo Liu, Yong Peng, Chunong Zhang & Peigen Xiao, was published in 2016 in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. In addition to its long history of use in traditional medicine, the bark, leaves, and twigs of the Japanese maple have been used since at least the 1700s, normally to treat eye complaints and improve liver function. The samaras, which are 2-3 inches in length, support the very small (6-8mm) seed. ![]() When the flowers are over, they form a pair of samaras (winged nutlets that can be dispersed easily by the wind). If the male and female flowers are close together, there would be a better chance that an insect would touch both of them, thus pollinating them. That could be why it is monoecious – that is to say, the male and female flowers grow on the same plant. However, insects are vital for the pollination of this species. Each flower has ten petals : five whitish in color and five reddish or purplish. Flowers grow in small clusters called cymes, in which each central stem starts off with a single terminal bud, and the other buds subsequently develop at the ends of additional lateral offshoots of the central stem. The Japanese maple has small, inconspicuous flowers, which tend not to attract insects too much. These dramatic leaf colors and shapes make the Japanese maple especially well-suited to bonsai training. Although the leaves are just a normal green color in summer, they exhibit a wide range of autumn colors, from orange and yellow, through red, to shades of purple. ![]() They are usually about 2-5 inches long, and comprise either five or seven lobes. The hand-shaped leaves are oppositely arranged on the stems, and roughly hand-shaped (that’s where the name palmatum comes from, see above, Introduction). It is indigenous to Japan, China, the Eastern part of Mongolia, North and South Korea, and South-East Russia, but is cultivated around the world on account of its dramatic and attractive leaf colors and shapes. The Japanese maple is a shrub (or small tree), typically reaching about 6-10m in height, with a dome-shaped crown, and branches appearing low on the trunk. The remaining 30 species are also mainly found in the Northern hemisphere – particularly in the temperate parts of East Asia, North America, and Europe. The genus Aceraceae (or maple) comprises around 129 different species – 99 of which are indigenous to China.
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