page_title: Acer palmatum
section_title: Popular cultivars
hierarchical_section_title: Acer palmatum / Cultivation and uses / Cultivars / Popular cultivars
context_page_description: Acer palmatum, commonly known as Japanese Maple, Palmate Maple, or Smooth Japanese Maple, is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. Many different cultivars of this maple have been selected and they are grown worldwide for their large variety of attractive forms, leaf shapes, and spectacular colors.
context_section_description: A selection of notable or popular cultivars, with brief notes about characteristics that apply during at least one season, includes the following.agm indicates the cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
  'Aka shigitatsu sawa'; pinkish-white leaves with green veins
  'Ao ba jo'; a dwarf with bronze-green summer foliage
  'Atropurpureum' ; wine-red, including new branches (see 'Dissectum Atropurpureum'); original cultivar lost and diluted by use of the name to market seedlings of a similar look.
  'Beni-malko' ; agm
  'Beni-tsukasa' ; agm
  'Bloodgood' ; agm;  a cultivar of 'Atropurpureum', vigorous growth, large size, a classic cultivar, but supplanted by improved similar selections like 'Emperor I' and 'Fireglow'.
  'Burgundy Lace' ; agm
  'Butterfly' ; Small upright tree form for shade, slow growing, small palmate leaves variegated with white borders and a bluish-green tint, pink hues show up during spring and fall.
  'Chitose-Yama' ; agm
  'Crimson Queen' ; (see var. dissectum 'Crimson Queen')
  'Dissectum' ; lace-like leaves, drooping habit
  'Dissectum Atropurpureum' ; 
  var. dissectum 'Crimson Queen' ; agm
  var. dissectum 'Garnet' ; agm
  var. dissectum 'Inaba-shidare' ; agm
  var. dissectum 'Seiryu' ; agm a green, tree-like shrub with finely dissected leaves
  'Elegans' ; agm
  'Emperor 1' ; One of the best red amoenums, similar to 'Bloodgood', but slightly smaller size, holds a deep red color even in shade and summer heat.
  'Garnet' ; (see var. dissectum 'Garnet')
  'Golden Pond' ; greenish-yellow summer foliage
  'Goshiki koto hime' ; a delicate, variegated dwarf
  'Higasa yama' ; crinkled leaves variegated with yellow
  'Hogyuko' ; rich green leaves, turning orange in autumn
  'Hupp's Dwarf' ; a small, dense shrub with miniature leaves
  'Inaba-shidare' ; (see var. dissectum 'Inaba-shidare')
  'Issai nishiki kawazu' ; very rough, rigid bark
  'Jerre Schwartz' ; dwarf variety, toothed, deeply lobed, mid-dark green leaves, flushed pink and then bronze-green in spring, turning red in autumn.
  'Kagiri nishiki' ; similar to 'Butterfly' but more pinkish tones
  'Karasu gawa' ; slow-growing variegate with brilliant pink and white
  'Katsura' ; agm yellow-green leaves tipped with orange
  'Koto no ito' ; light green, thread-like leaves
  'Little Princess' ; a sparsely branched dwarf with irregular habit
  'Mama' ; a bushy dwarf with extremely variable foliage
  'Masu murasaki' ; a shrubby tree with purple leaves
  'Mizu kuguri' ; orange-tinted new growth and very wide habit
  'Nigrum' ;  deep purple leaves turning to crimson
  'Nishiki gawa' ; pinetree-like bark desirable for bonsai
  'Nomura nishiki' ;  dark purple, lace-like leaves
  'Ojishi' ;  tiny dwarf, grows only a few centimetres per year
  'Orange Dream' ; agm an ssp. palmatum cultivar, with small leaves yellow with orange in spring, green in summer, orange-yellow in autumn. Bark bright green
  'Orangeola' ; An excellent cultivar of the weeping shrub form, prized for its dynamic color which changes constantly throughout the season.  agm
  'Ornatum' ; agm
  'Osakazuki' ; agm  tree-like shrub with spectacular autumn colour
  'Peaches and Cream' ; similar to 'Aka shigitatsu sawa'
  'Pink Filigree' ; finely dissected, brownish-pink leaves
  'Pung kil' ; Improved selection of the 'linearlobum' types; thin-lobed purple-red leaves, good color retention. Even the new growth displays the linearlobum type leaf form.
  'Red Dragon' ; One of the finest of the lace-leaf weeping umbrella-shaped forms. Similar to 'Crimson Queen', but smaller overall size and with better red color retention into the summer heat.
  'Red Filigree Lace' ; Dwarf sized umbrella-shaped weeping form, extra finely dissected delicate dark purple leaves, slow growth rate.
  'Red Pygmy' ; agm
  'Sango kaku' ; agm  Coral-bark maple (formerly 'Senkaki'); with pinkish-red bark
  'Seiryu' ; (see var. dissectum 'Seiryu')
  'Shaina' ; a dwarf sport from 'Bloodgood'
  'Shin deshojo' ; an improved selection of the 'coralinum' type ssp. palmatum cultivars, with a small overall size, small leaves, and a vibrant red spring coloration different from most other red cultivars. On
caption: Popular red-foliaged cultivars include 'Atropurpureum' and 'Bloodgood'
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