Acer triflorum is a species of maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

 native to hills of northern China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 (Heilongjiang

Heilongjiang

For the river known in Mandarin as Heilong Jiang, see Amur River' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑...

, Jilin

Jilin

Jilin , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...

, Liaoning

Liaoning

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...

) and Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

.

It is a deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 that reaches a height of about 25 m but is usually smaller. It is a trifoliate maple related to such other species as Manchurian Maple

Acer mandshuricum

Acer mandshuricum , is a species of maple native to China , Korea and Russia ....

 (Acer mandshuricum) and Paperbark Maple

Paperbark Maple

Acer griseum is a species of maple native to central China, in the provinces of Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Sichuan, at altitudes of 1,500–2,000 m....

 (Acer griseum). It has yellowish-brown exfoliating bark

Exfoliation (botany)

Exfoliation means the removal or loss of leaves from a plant. It is used both to describe the loss of a leaves as a natural part of a plant’s life cycle or because of some trauma or outside cause Exfoliation (from the term "foliate", meaning “related to leaves”) means the removal or loss of...

 that peels in woody scales rather than papery pieces like Acer griseum.

The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 have a 2.5–6 cm petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

 and three leaflets; the leaflets are 4–9 cm long and 2-3.5 cm broad, with serrated margins, the central leaflet the same size as or slightly larger than the two side leaflets. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are yellow, produced in small corymbs

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

 of three small flowers each, hence the name. The samaras

Samara (fruit)

A samara is a type of fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. A samara is a simple dry fruit and indehiscent . It is a winged achene...

 are 3.5-4.5 cm long and 1.3–2 cm broad, hairy, the nutlet with a woody shell.

Even more than its relatives, three-flower maple has spectacular fall colour that may include brilliant orange, scarlet, purple and gold. It is one of the few trees to develop good fall colour in shade.

Cultivation

The species was first introduced to cultivation in 1923. Although common in maple collections, it is rarely seen in cultivation outside of arboreta

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

.

It grows at slow to moderate rate and prefers moist, well drained soil; growth is often shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

-like in cultivation. It is relatively tolerant of drought and clay compared to its close relatives. It does not tolerate wet or over-compacted soil. Propagation

Plant propagation

Plant propagation is the process of creating new plants from a variety of sources: seeds, cuttings, bulbs and other plant parts. Plant propagation can also refer to the artificial or natural dispersal of plants.-Sexual propagation :...

 is similar to that required for Acer griseum and the number of viable seeds is likewise very small.

In Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, the largest specimens are up to 13 m tall, and 60 cm trunk diameter (Tree Register of the British Isles). In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, mature specimens can be seen at Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts.