Acer leucoderme Small

A deciduous shrub or tree to 15 m. Bark pale nearly white to greyish brown, fissuring with age. Branchlets glabrous, purplish dark green, turning reddish brown and eventually grey to green. Buds ovoid, acutely tipped, with five to nine pairs of imbricate scales. Leaves broadly pentagonal in outline, base cordate to truncate, three- to five-lobed, 5–8.2 cm long, lobes apically obtuse, tips usually drooping, margins entire or remotely dentate with obtuse teeth, upper surface pale green, lower surface bright yellowish green, finely soft pubescent; petiole 2.5–4 cm long, glabrous, often grooved, broadest at base; autumn colours scarlet. Inflorescence corymbose few flowered. Flowers yellow, 5-merous, pedicels long and slender, glabrous, sepals lobed, ciliate, petals absent, stamens seven or eight, inserted in the middle of the nectar disc. Samaras 1.2 to 2 cm long, wings spreading broadly. Nutlets rounded. Flowering March to April, with unfolding leaves, fruiting May to June. (Rehder 1927–1940; Sargent 1965; Elias 1980).

Distribution  United States Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia.

Habitat Moist woodlands, paticularly along streams, river banks and in ravines.

USDA Hardiness Zone 5-8

RHS Hardiness Rating H7

Conservation status Least concern (LC)