Page 1 of 2
Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 18th, 2009, 11:29 am
by Elias
Hi All,
Anyone worked with this type of maple before...? I assume it should be treated like a normal maple, I hope I can reduce leaf size....interesting that the plant tag had hand written "Semi Decidious"...
Acer Buergeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
IMG_0212.jpg
Elias
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 18th, 2009, 11:49 am
by daiviet_nguyen
Hi,
I do believe I have some of similar leaves at home.
I also believe that when I bought it, it was tagged as "trident maple" without
sci. name. I have never tried to reduce leaves size yet. But I notice that the
ones I put onto the ground tend to have much larger leaves' sizes than the
one in pots under the same health-appearance.
Thank you for "Trifidum" -- I did not know this before.
Cheers.
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 18th, 2009, 5:58 pm
by 63pmp
Hi,
Acer buergerianum is the species, and commonly is known as Trident Maple. I think Trifidum is a cultivar of A. buergerianum, though I have no references for this. I have something similar I am working on, it never had a label, (disclaimer) but it is similar to a labeled trifidum tree in a neighbor's front yard. The tree I have is strongly apically dominant, leaves reduce in size with pinching, it has long petioles which I don't like. Scars vary from thick and ugly to OK depending on how strongly it is growing when healing. My personal thought is to stick with the standard Trident maple
Paul
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 18th, 2009, 6:33 pm
by John Henry
Hi Eliast,
Defoliate the tree twice a year (in Melbourne early November and February) and back off on feeding.
You have to join a club
Regards, John
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 18th, 2009, 7:21 pm
by LLK
Acer buergerianum is the species, and commonly is known as Trident Maple. I think Trifidum is a cultivar of A. buergerianum, though I have no references for this.
No, Acer trifidum is a synonym of Acer buergerianum. See
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?1241
You can get slight variations in the shape of the foliage, depending on growing conditions. Also, these trees are easily propagated by seed and there, too, you can get small variations. In a trident maple forest, for ex., some trees colour more quickly than others in Autumn, or their colour is more intense.
Lisa
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 18th, 2009, 7:33 pm
by 63pmp
Thanks Lisa ,
I just came to that realization as I did some further research.
Paul
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 19th, 2009, 3:28 am
by stymie
The tree in my avatar is A. buergerianum.......
I'm adding a photo of a much better one. A trunk with attitude.
Trident.JPG
and one with a built in dwelling.
trident cave.jpg
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 19th, 2009, 7:08 am
by aaron_tas
wow
definately attitude in "trident", love it so much i wanna see it naked
nice one symie

Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 19th, 2009, 11:21 am
by Elias
Hi All,
Thanks for the replies. John I will try to make it to Mondays meeting at BSV, subject to how many jobs I gotta design and quote...
This variety of Trident maple is quite interesting, the are noticeable differences is the leave shape and size :
IMG_0214.jpg
IMG_0213.jpg
Anyways something I found interesting...Stymie, I love those trees, they are awesome, thanks for posting.
Elias
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 19th, 2009, 1:32 pm
by LLK
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 19th, 2009, 2:30 pm
by Elias
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 20th, 2009, 12:05 am
by AlainK
...simply because Acer buergerianum is the same plant as Acer trifidum : these are synonyms, although "buergerianum" is the official term.
"Trifidum" is not a variety, or a cultivar, or a sub-species : the differences in the size and shape of the leaves come from the differences in cultivation (soil, fertilizer, exposure, etc). This is why the leaves of most deciduous trees can be reduced, especially for maples : for instance the cuttings I make from Japanese maples have much bigger leaves than the parent plant simply because I don't trim them back unytil they are established.
And as has been said before, in the same species, there can be slight variations form one set of seeds to the other, but Acer buergerianum = Acer trifidum, there is no doubt about that.
HTH
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 20th, 2009, 12:17 am
by AlainK
As an illustration of what i was saying, I have several Zelkova serrata in my garden. I don't know if you can grow them where you are, it may be an "exotic tree" for you, but anyway, it's more or less the same for Acer buergerianum.
The first picture is a picture of the leaves of a tree that has been left to grow freely.
The second picture is from a tree from the same stock that had exactly the same leaves, but that i had to cut back to two metres because it is at the limit of my neighbour's garden. notice the size of the leaves after the new growth (the new branches that started from the trunk grew as long as 1.50 metres in a season)
The third picture is from a potted tree, a cutting from the second one.
See what I mean?...

Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 20th, 2009, 10:09 am
by Elias
Hi Alain,
Thanks for that horticultural lesson, I should've know better....and my wording of 'variety' was indeed wrong, my bad.
Gotta remember not to bother making these kinds of posts in future, my selfish need to share a simple observations was dumb, thanks for putting me in my place...
Elias
Re: Acer Burgeranum syn. Trifidum Trident Maple
Posted: March 20th, 2009, 2:09 pm
by daiviet_nguyen
I have just realised that I actually own a book on maple:
J. D. Vertrees, Japanese Maples, Second Edition, Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. 1995 (sixth printing)
Pages 149 to 170 are on the subject Other Acer Species from Japan.
The A. buergerianum is further broken down into several different cultivars -- most of which I have not seen.
I think this is a very good book for those of us who are crazy about maples.