Super small leaves JM?

[Rivian]

Look at what I found in a planter. Those are centimeters, not inches. Anyone guess the cultivar name? Cause I have no idea. The plant was about 1.4 meters tall, with very low graft union if any. Trunk was maybe 7cm diameter, from memory.

 

[leatherback]

Probably just dry / poor soil.
I have bought maples here with 1-2cm leaves. Untill I plant them in substrate and start watering & fertilizing.

 

[Shibui]

There are a few named varieties that have smaller leaves. The ones I have here are green leaf types though. I don't know the small red leaf ones.
It is certainly possible that conditions have reduced the leaf size somewhat. Time will tell.
Most small leaf JM are also small trees and usually slow growing or dwarf which can make them frustrating to develop.

 

[Rivian]

There are a few named varieties that have smaller leaves. The ones I have here are green leaf types though. I don't know the small red leaf ones.
It is certainly possible that conditions have reduced the leaf size somewhat. Time will tell.
Most small leaf JM are also small trees and usually slow growing or dwarf which can make them frustrating to develop.

I might even prefer if the leaves were green, gives more natural and varied look throughout the seasons. Do you know any cultivar names?
Since the leaves were roughly this size all over the plant and look mature and there was no obvious drought or malnutrition symptoms, I do not expect they would ever reach 4cm in length. It seems worth checking out, either way.
The parent plant was much bigger and thicker than the bonsai Id make with this variety, so I think development could work out alright.

 

[leatherback]

Do you know any cultivar names?

Check little princess. For sale as youngsters at e.g., hellweg. (Which is where I got one)

 

[Rivian]

Idk, kiyohime seems to have leaves that get 2 or 3 times as long as what I took the photo of

 

[Shibui]

Maples for Gardens by CJ & DM van Gelderen list a number of dwarf shrub JM with purple or rusty brown leaves:
Akita yatsubusa; Ara tama; Beni fushugi; Bene hime; Beni Komachi; Brandt's dwarf; Garyu; Pixie; Red filigree lace; Ruby stars; Skeeter's broom.
There have probably been more introductions since that list was compiled. There's another list of green leaf dwarf JM.

 

[Rivian]

I think I will try to find out who owns the planter and where they got the plant

 

[leatherback]

You know this thread?

Species with the Smallest Leaf? (Maple)

I have been interested in acquiring a maple for some time, and was doing some research on which variety to buy based on what I want from my maple. As with all deciduous bonsai, one of the most critical attributes a variety must possess is a small leaf size. Which raises the question of 'Which...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Rivian]

I read through it, they recommend the common dwarf JM like kotohime, kiyohime, Benihime etc. Its always hard to tell how big those leaves really are unless seen in person, but I wager the one I saw is still smaller.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Small leaves typically mean slow growth and congested nodes, a couple of challenges when developing fine bonsai.

 

[Rivian]

Small leaves typically mean slow growth and congested nodes, a couple of challenges when developing fine bonsai.

As I said, its not a small plant. The trunks are quite thick. Didnt look too congested either, but who knows what pruning may have been done.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

With the thousands of named Japanese maple cultivars it is impossible to identify a cultivar once the provenance is lost. The only way you will know for certain what cultivar it is, to ask the owner of the tree if they know, or saved the name tag.

That said, my favorite small red leaf JM cultivar is 'Hime Shojo'. Had one for a brief period of time. I will be getting another at some point.

 

[AlainK]

Check little princess.

Good advice. I happened to take this photo this morning :



But there are many other cultivars with very small leaves, particularly those in the "Hime" family, ('Little Princess' is in Japan 'Mapi-no-machi-Hime') like 'Kyohime', and... others.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Well you can start your search with red-leafed cultivars, because that's what it is - and you'll eliminate about 90% of the other JM out there Then you can skip the lace-leafed cultivars like crimson queen and red dragon, and you'll be narrowing things down nicely.

You saw the entire tree, and all the leaves were that size? It reminds me a lot of a bloodgood... which can push very small leaves at first, though they will eventually grow/expand larger. If it was just the tip of a branch and got knocked off before it matured, the leaves could be artificially small. Likewise if it had been defoliated.

 

[AlainK]

bloodgood

'Bloodgood' has the typical shape of Acer palmatum var. amoenum.

The leaves that Rivian posted look more like one from the matsumurae group, like 'Trompenburg' or 'Peve starfish'.

Here are pictures of a 'Starfish' I bought last June. The first one is the older leaves, when I bought it. It was obviously sprayed with something like sulfur :



The top, with the new shoot (full sun from 9AM to 15PM) :



I also have a 'Trompenburg', very similar. I keep this one in almost total shade.

April 2020 :



Today. In the shade, the red colour doesn't hold as long as in full sun and the lobes are not so curved inside :

 

[Rivian]

I will try to take more pictures of the tree tomorrow morning. Its in a public spot so dont want to mess with it too much during the day when theres people around it.