The last time I took a photograph of this hornbeam maple, I was jokingly criticized for not taking a picture of its leaf, one of most distinctive features of this species. As you can tell, this maple’s leaf is not the typical palmately lobed leaf of many maples, but rather a pinnately-veined simple leaf, much like those seen (as a relevant example) in the genus Carpinus.
For a few more photographs of non-palmately lobed maple leaves, see Botanical Characters of Maples via The Maple.
Photography / nature resource link: The Flora and Fauna of the Paraguayan Gran Chaco from the talents of Thomas and Sabine Vinke. Beautiful (and exotic, to me) subjects combined with an eye for composition make every page on this site worthwhile to visit (don’t miss out the amphibian page). As a related aside, one of the things I find most deeply satisfying is when the garden’s discussion forums are used by people around the world to puzzle over something botanical and come to an educated conclusion. Check out this lichen identification conversation that involved Thomas & Sabine from Paraguay and folks from British Columbia, California, Colorado and Washington. Made my day.
Wow– I had no idea (that there was a pinnately veined species). Thanks for all you do with this wonderful site; I’ve been spreading the word to botanical friends. I’m just back from Indiana, where I saw hornbeam (and many others), so this refresher is timely!
Acer carpinifolium – Z5, RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Worth noting that the first four veins are palmately arranged (arising from a single point with the midrib) – and in this leaf, run out to slightly larger teeth (nearly small lobes), giving the leaf a somewhat ‘wasp-waisted’ appearance.
The four basal veins applies to the pics on the species’ Maple Gallery thread too:
http://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/acer-carpinifolium.6799/
One can see that this is derived from a palmate-leaved ancestor, which has just developed the central lobe much larger than the other lobes.
Z4 (Europe 5) – Maples for Gardens, Van Gelderen & Van Gelderen
i grow this plant…but only began recently …in the sunniest driest part of the greenhouse Acer carpinifolium appears as though it may be drought tolerant? I cant wait till they make it to the field and get big enough to appreciate.
A photograph from November 29, 2006 of the same tree.
Re-added the image: