Maple georgian seeds

Georgian maple / Acer ibericum

This is a low, up to 8 meters, tree with a tent-shaped crown, gray trunk bark and light brown young shoots with numerous whitish lenticels. The leaves are 3-lobed, leathery, shiny, bluish-green and glabrous above; their width exceeds their length. All lobes are almost equal in length, entire.

In May, along with the leaves, small yellow flowers appear, collected in few-flowered sessile or drooping corymbs. In July, the tree is decorated with already ripe, drooping tassels of lionfish. They have up to 3.5 centimeters in length, are directed almost parallel and sometimes touch each other with wings.

In nature, it reproduces by seeds. In garden culture and park construction, it is propagated by seeds, root shoots, "in vitro", garden forms - by grafting. Seeds need stratification at 0-3° for 2-3 months. At 5-7° its duration increases. Stratification at 0-3° can be reduced to 1.5-2.5 months if the seeds are then germinated at 10°. Isolated embryos begin to grow slowly and not all. Treatment with stimulants has a positive effect on the seeds - after that, 50-80% of the seeds germinate in the heat in 2-3 weeks.

Maple grows slowly, is frost-resistant and shade-tolerant, tolerates dryness and salinity of the soil well. It is a good honey plant. Provides honey bees with nectar and pollen. Honey productivity up to 100 kg per hectare of solid plantations.

According to its morphological properties, it is close to the river maple (Acer ginnala), which some botanists consider a subspecies of the Tatar maple A. tataricum subsp. ginnala. They are distinguished in particular by the leaves, which are shiny in the riverine maple (matte in the Tatar maple), and individual lobes are clearly expressed and cut much deeper.

Seeds need stratification at 0-3° for 2-3 months. At 5-7° its duration increases. Stratification at 0-3° can be reduced to 1.5-2.5 months if the seeds are then germinated at 10°. Isolated embryos begin to grow slowly and not all. Treatment with stimulants has a positive effect on the seeds - after that, 50-80% of the seeds germinate in the heat in 2-3 weeks.