Acer wardii W.W.Sm.

Discovered by Frank Kingdon-Ward in 1914 and named after him, but introduced [when?] by George Forrest, this interesting species was placed in its own Section by de Jong (van Gelderen, de Jong & Oterdoom 1994). For decades it was represented in cultivation by a single tree at Trewithen in Cornwall, UK but this was killed in the infamously cold winter of 1962–63, and although a cutting was reported to have been rooted from it (Bean 1976), no specimens seem to have persisted. In recent decades it has been reintroduced, including from western Yunnan, with young plants now in cultivation. A specimen at Tregrehan, also Cornwall, was measured at 3.5 m tall in 2024 (The Tree Register 2026). Another individual, grown from KR 8410, collected in Arunachal Pradesh, has attained 2.5 m at Whitehouse Farm, Kent, as of January 2026 though has so far made an ungainly specimen seemingly reluctant to branch (J. Aldridge, pers. comm. 2026). Material of Myanmar origin has previously been available through Pan-Global Plants (Pan Global Plants 2019). The species is evidently well adapted to its extremely wet native habitat, having long drip-tips on each of the three leaf lobes. Young plants in collections have red shoots and a green main stem, and the mature tree is said to have a very ornamental weeping habit (Hudson 2004). How hardy these plants will be remains to be seen.

Acer wardii does not appear to be in cultivation beyond a handful of specialist UK gardens. It is not reported from any of the (few) North American collections whose conditions may be appropriate, nor is it known from any of the mild collections of coastal France (J. Garnett, pers. comm. 2026).

In the Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh Acer wardii forms thickets of shoots arising as suckers from the roots of older trees (M. Wickenden, pers. comm. 2007).