Acer fulvescens Rehd.

As a name, Acer fulvescens was temporarily almost lost from cultivation, with its inclusion in the synonymy of A. longipes by van Gelderen et al. (1994) being followed fairly consistently by growers of the species. Though some have since reverted to calling their plants A. fulvescens, in alignment with Xu et al. (2008), many plants remain labelled as A. longipes, which has also served as something of a catch-all name for several Asian Section Platanoidea species in cultivation. The key morphological difference between the two species is quite clear: A. fulvescens has shoots that turn brown and woody by the end of the first growing season; those of A. longipes remain greenish for several years. Further, the bark of A. fulvescens is more or less smooth, whereas that of A. longipes is roughly fissured with age. Rehder, in Sargent (1913), states that the leaves of A. fulvescens are typically smaller than those of A. longipes, while the pubescence in the latter species is greyish, whereas in A. fulvescens it is yellowish or fulvous, hence the epithet.

The species was introduced by Ernest Wilson in 1908, who collected it three times, under numbers W 1004 (the type), 1907 and 1162 (Sargent 1913). The vast majority of plants in cultivation are understood to come from Wilson collections, though unlikely his 1907, which was made in July and quite probably too early for ripe seed. Herbarium specimens of W 1162 and 1907 differ from that of the type in their puberulous inflorescences and an old tree at Borde Hill, purchased in the Aldenham sale of 1932, resembles the type in leaf characters and its glabrous inflorescence. This was the only tree known to Bean (1976) and several trees in cultivation are derived from it, including a fine grafted plant at Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire. Another plant, thought to be of different origin (i.e. W 1162 or 1907) grew at Arley Castle, Worcestershire, and was successfully grafted by Keith Rushforth in 1975 and planted in Ten Acres at the Hillier Gardens in March 1981, where it is still growing happily. Further plants of this origin have been shared with Chevithorne Barton, Tregrehan and Windsor Great Park. (K. Rushforth, pers. comms. 2020). A young plant of non-Wilson origin grows at Tregrehan, Cornwall, while H&M 2208, collected at 2140 m in Sichuan in 2000 grows at Howick Hall, Northumberland.