Paperbark maple leves9/13/2023 ![]() Visiting the Arboretum’s landscape with your family to see this tree for yourself? Download a printable guide in English or Spanish.Ĭlick here to read a transcript of the audio segment below. Trees from that expedition are currently growing in the Arboretum’s nursery. The collectors’ zigzagging route covered over 2,200 miles. In 2015, NACPEC partners embarked on a plant collecting trip aimed at sampling many of the known populations of paperbark maple in China. Intentional cultivation of an endangered species outside of its native habitat is known as ex situ conservation Ex situ conservation: The process of protecting a species outside of its natural habitat. That designation makes it even more essential to grow and safeguard wild-collected specimens in places like the Arnold Arboretum, where we keep precise records about the native habitat. ![]() The paperbark maple is now endangered in its native China. The species was the target of an expedition to Hubei with the North America-China Plant Exploration Consortium-or NACPEC. One of the collectors, Paul Meyer, would later write of the successful expedition that “of the many hundreds of plants I have observed and collected in China, none were more exciting than finding a grove of wild paperbark maple.” So, in 1994, Arboretum collector Peter Del Tredici collaborated with colleagues from other botanical gardens to reintroduce this species from China. This made the trees more susceptible to pest or disease outbreaks and less likely to survive in varied climates. They are now considered among the oldest of their kind growing outside of China.įor years, paperbark maples cultivated in the United States were all descended from Wilson’s early 20th century introductions. The second tree from that 1907 expedition grows on the edge of the primary maple collection, near the Bradley Rosaceous Collection. During that expedition, Wilson dug two seedlings from a woodland north of Yichang and shipped them to the Arboretum. This tree, accession 12488*B, was collected on a follow-up expedition for the Arnold Arboretum in 1907. He sent seed from Hubei Province to an English nursery in 1901. The species was first introduced in the United States and Europe by plant explorer Ernest Henry Wilson. Despite the rarity of this tree in the wild, it has become a common highlight among public gardens and parks throughout the temperate world Temperate world: Latitudes of Earth between subtropics and the polar circles, typically with moderate average temperatures. It’s admired for its luminous, copper-colored bark, compact structure, and stunning fall color. Paperbark maple is an iconic Chinese species.
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