Boston Flora

Tag: Acer griseum

  • Wednesday, August 9, 5:30 pm – Protecting Rare Trees: The Paperbark Maple

    A beloved and well-known garden plant, paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is endangered in its native habitat in China. Kris Bachtell, vice president of collections and facilities at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, will speak at the Polly Hill Arboretum, 809 State Road in West Tisbury, on Wednesday, August 9 at 5:30 pm about the Paperbark Maple Conservation Project that is helping to secure its future. Kris has traveled worldwide collecting samples of the species, from public gardens in the United States and United Kingdom to the wilds of the People’s Republic of China. These expeditions are helping scientists understand the plant’s genetic diversity to help guide its conservation. Get a botanist’s perspective on the history of paperbark maple in the wild and in cultivation and learn how this project can serve as a model to help conserve other threatened species. Sponsored by Bartlett Tree Experts.  $5 for PHA members, $10 for general public.  For more information visit www.pollyhillarboretum.org.

  • Friday, December 4, 6:45 pm – Red Needles in Green Haystacks: On the Trail of the Wild Paperbark Maple

    Dr. Michael S. Dosmann, Curator of Living Collections, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, will address the New England Botanical Club on Friday, December 4 beginning at 6:45 in Haller Hall on the Harvard University campus.  His lecture, open to the public, will be on Red Needles in Green Haystacks: On the Trail of the Wild Paperbark Maple. Since its initial introduction from China to the West by Ernest Henry Wilson in 1901, the paperbark maple (Acer griseum) has become rather common in cultivation, particularly in gardens, arboreta, and other managed ornamental landscapes. And yet, this species’ status is anything but common in the wild in central and western China. As part of a collaborative conservation initiative, the Arnold Arboretum is surveying wild populations, and comparing these with lineages introduced from the wild to get a global perspective of genetic diversity in this species. Photo courtesy of Cornell University. For further info see: http://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html.