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Maple family (Aceraceae)
Tree of height 30(32) m and breast-height diameter up to 150 cm, capable of living more than 200 years. Bark grey, with shallow but elongate fissuring. Leaves large, of diameter 10-20 cm, with 5 sharp-pointed and toothed lobes. Shiny undersides have clusters of tiny hairs, while indentations between lobes arched and crinkled. Stalks have milky sap. In autumn, leaves go from yellow to red. Flowers hermaphrodite, with nectary disc, 5-fold arrangement, colour green-yellow. Arranged in flat-topped cluster or corymb. Paired winged fruits support 2 flattened nutlets, each bearing wing on one side only. These fall once mature. Flowers in Apr. (May), before leaves develop.
Grows in luxuriant broadleaved forests, best on mesic, fertile soils. Yields sweet sap in spring.
Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski
