Japanese mapleYoshihiro Tokue, CC BY 4.0
Introduced · Up to 15 m

Japanese maple

Acer palmatum · Sapindaceae

Japanese maple is a small, rounded tree, often wider than it is tall. Its leaves are cut deeply into five or seven pointed lobes, each with fine, sharp teeth.

Often mistaken for Norway maple. How to tell them apart →
Know it byLeavesSmall, 4 to 7 cm, cut deep into pointed, finely toothed lobes.KeysReddish pairs about 2 cm across, hanging in clusters.Red shootsSlender, each tipped with two crimson or green buds.

Then check · ShapeA small, rounded dome, often wider than it is tall, with the leaves held in flat, level sprays.

How to identify a Japanese maple

Japanese maple: leavesMarco Mussita, CC BY 4.0
Leaves

Small, usually 4 to 7 cm, and cut deeply into five or seven pointed lobes, rarely nine, with fine, sharp teeth all round.

Red shoots

Slender shoots, often bright red above and green underneath, each one tipped with two crimson or green buds.

Learn the Japanese maple in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Japanese maple leaves: narrow pointed lobes, cut two-thirds of the way inMarco Mussita, CC BY 4.0
LeavesNarrow pointed lobes, cut two-thirds of the way in
Japanese maple flowers: small deep red clusters among the new leavesWATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, CC BY 4.0
FlowersSmall deep red clusters among the new leaves
Japanese maple keys: small reddish keys hanging in clustersJoão D'Andretta, CC BY 4.0
KeysSmall reddish keys hanging in clusters
Japanese maple shape: low rounded dome, often wider than it is tallYoshihiro Tokue, CC BY 4.0
ShapeLow rounded dome, often wider than it is tall

When to look

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In leaf
Flowers
Keys

In leaf: April to November · Flowers: April to May · Keys: May to October

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Planted in parks and gardens, mostly in the lowlands. It does best in a bright spot sheltered from cold, drying winds. Seedlings come up freely in gardens, and now and then in the cracks of town paving.

What it’s mistaken for

Japanese maple: leaf edgeNorway maple: leaf edgeJapanese maple or Norway maple?Both are planted for their purple leaves.Leaf edge Japanese maple: wings of a pairSycamore: wings of a pairJapanese maple or sycamore?Both are maples with paired keys.Wings of a pair Japanese maple: leafletsElder: leafletsJapanese maple or elder?Garden forms of both have finely cut, feathery leaves.Leaflets
  • Field mapleBoth are small maples with lobed leaves. Leaf. Japanese maple: narrow and pointed, cut two-thirds of the way in. Field maple: rounded, with a few big blunt teeth.

More maples and horse chestnut

Field mapleAcer campestreHorse chestnutAesculus hippocastanumNorway mapleAcer platanoidesSycamoreAcer pseudoplatanus
In the app

There’s more of the Japanese maple in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the Japanese maple on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: Yoshihiro Tokue (CC BY 4.0), Marco Mussita (CC BY 4.0), João D'Andretta (CC BY 4.0), WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁 (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Yves Bas (CC BY 4.0), Kieran Roy Powell (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.