Appearance

Growth form

A small deciduous tree with slender, nearly hairless twigs.

Leaves

Leaves usually have three to five lobes, small teeth, and reddish-purple stalks.

Flowers

Small flowers hang in short clusters, commonly five to seven to a cluster.

Fruit

The fruits are paired and winged, as in other maples.

Look-alikes

bearded mapleAcer barbinerve

The two have similarly lobed leaves. Bearded maple (Acer barbinerve) has downy young shoots, while Korean butterfly maple has slender, almost hairless shoots and purple-tinged leaf stalks.

Where it lives

Typical habitats

• East Asian mountain forests
• U.S. arboretum collections

Range

Native to Korea, northeastern China, and the Russian Far East. Collections in Ohio and Illinois have grown it.

Name and classification

About the name

Older labels placed it within Acer tschonoskii, under the name Acer tschonoskii subsp. koreanum. It is also called red-twig maple.

Conservation

IUCN Red List

LCLeast Concern·Low risk of extinction