Thanks for the reply, I didn't so much ask because i didn't know, I was more trying to reinforce my research, I came to the same conclusion. When I sent that seller a message, He/She said I was rude and insulting. Has been selling since 2008 and 100% feedback. It was still listed as Japanese Maple(Acer Rubrum) even if they did have a sunset. In the pics it has about 4 different maple trees, but only selling one type(whichever one it is) lol. Claims it's my opinion, but the names seems very clear to me. Acer Rubrum (Red Maple) with all it's varieties it's still Acer Rubrum. Acer Palmatun (Japanese Maple) means little fingers from what I gather and all the cultivars go under that name no matter how many varieties they have. I could list many official websites that say the same thing.

I like to check my "facts" over and over again before I say anything. :)

Timbo, you are quite correct, it is not just your opinion and the names are what they are. Acer rubrum is a 'red maple' and Acer palmatum is a Japanese maple - they are not the same and they don't mix or hybridize either.

I'd caution anyone if purchasing from any online vendor that is not a 'real' nursery. Caveat emptor - buyer beware! I'm sure there are reputable online vendors out there but a great many ebay listings are just someone trying to make a quick buck and preying on the lack of knowledge of many consumers to sell their wares. Heck, most of the time, the vendors probably don't know exactly what it is they are selling or are are just simply unethical, like selling seedling grown trees as named forms. Or selling the seeds themselves as a specific cultivar. It just doesn't work that way!!

Hehe, It's even more amazing what you get from 'real" nursery's. I have 3 Japanese maples i bought on clearance that all are suppose to be red Japanese maples that have 3 different looks. One has a green trunk, one has a purple trunk the other looks like it's been grafted more than once i dunno what cultivar it is. :(

Seller is trying to tell me all Red Maples come from Japan....Wow! It's hard to know what people sell good stock even if it's from a nursery.

By a "real" nursery, I mean one that is an actual grower (not just a seller) of JM's or a retail nursery that buys only from reputable growers that produce plants with a known provenance. Lord knows there are plenty of less than reputable retail nurseries out there as well, including any box stores that don't really care what they are carrying or how it is labeled.

FWIW, "red" Japanese maples only refer to those that produce red foliage and there are literally scores of different cultivars that fit that description. And they can (and do) have very different appearances, so encountering ones that look different, including trunk/stem color, is not at all unusual.

And 'Red Maples' - Acer rubrum species - are native to North America, not Japan. Other non-JM red leafed maples (typically only cultivars of Acer platanoides, like 'Crimson King' or 'Burgundy Belle') are also native to nowhere near Japan - eastern Europe, primarily. So I would seriously question the knowledge and aptitude of your seller....it is obviously lacking.

Uneducated, and or, unscrupulous sellers selling to uneducated buyers sure complicates things. A seed is the result of two parents, therefore any tree grown from a seed can't be called a cultivar. They are produced by cuttings or grafting only and are clones of the original parent and have a cultivar name other than just Japanese red maple.

Gardengal48 explained it well.

Here's a seedling Acer palmatum from an Acer palmatum , 'Sango Kaku'. Even though it looks like a Sango Kaku, I can't call it that. It's just an Acer palmatum seedling with Sango Kaku parentage and who knows what the other parent was. Even though the other parent might have been a Sango Kaku, it's still just a seedling Japanese Acer palmatum.

I cut back the long new growth to encourage it to be bushy to show the red twigs for next winter. The Elderberry is 'temporary'.

Mike

Mike

I hope I don't fit in the uneducated buyer category. To clarify my last response i should have said they were suppose to be 'Bloodgood' but that seems to be a catch all phrase too. Neat looking 'tree' too, amazing all the variety's to look at. I may end up just air layering because the grafts and root stock look so bad....or just take cuttings from them.

I will post a pic of one tree I would like an opinion on. Like i said it seems like it was grafted twice giving it a odd green inner leaf faded to red on the outside. Maybe it just mixed the 2 grafts?

Mixed the two grafts?

Mike

It has 2 graft points, one at the base and one about 4-6 inches up the trunk....least that's what it looks like. I don't know how 2 grafts work on non-fruit bearing trees.

That's different, using the understock twice.

I wonder if the scions were the same?

Mike

I have never heard of a JM being double grafted afa the rootstock was concerned.........there really isn't any compelling reason to do so. I have seen two different scions grafted to the same root stock. That produces a rather freaky looking end product, IMO. Not something I'd want but then it takes all types :-) Double grafted Viridis and Crimson Queen - weird!

Post that photo so we can see what's going on!!

looks like 2 to me, unless it's just a weird angle and discoloration from the dirt.

The top is though for sure....least to me :p

This one is just Acer Palmatum Var. Atro. Does having a green trunk vs a purple trunk list it under a certain name? I have 2 'Bloodgood' like i said and one had a green trunk and one a purple trunk.

I'm not sure I see two graft points there. And stem color is not all that important afa ID'ing variety. especially that one. var. Atropurpureum is kind of a catch-all for a generic red leafed JM. Which is really what a lot of so-called or seedling grown Bloodgoods are.

Specimen looks to have same leaves throughout, as though not even grafted once.

Pretty sure it's grafted (at least once). The whole trunk above (hard to see that in the pic) looks different, still green but the light lines are not the same. Shrug

The uniformity of it from the root crown to the the top of the foliage crown makes me think otherwise, the wounds apparently being random damage rather than graft unions.