General Culture:

Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Prefers lightly dappled shade. Leaves may scorch in full sun in hot southern summers. Plants prefer cool summer conditions. Site in locations protected from strong winds. Stake trunk for more erect growth or leave alone for spreading effect.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

Full moon maple is a deciduous, spreading, small tree or large shrub that grows to 20-30’ tall. It often grows in a multi-trunked form. It is native to mountainous areas of Japan, Manchuria and Korea. It features rounded, palmate, almost fern-like, medium green leaves (to 3-6” across) which are deeply divided into 7-11 pointed, toothed and cut, ovate to lance-shaped lobes. Leaves turn yellow and red in fall. Each rounded leaf purportedly resembles a full moon, hence the common name. Small purplish red flowers in pendulous corymbs appear in early spring (April) before the leaves. Flowers are followed by winged samaras (to 1” long) which ripen in late summer to early fall. As with many maples, the flowers are rather attractive close up, but are no particularly showy from a distance. Smooth gray bark on younger trees. Species plants are rarely offered in cultivation, but several popular cultivars are commonly sold, including ‘Aconitifolium’ (see A980 herein) and Vitifolium (see D354 herein). Although somewhat similar in appearance to Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), full moon maple has larger leaves with more lobes per leaf and downy leaf stems.