Acer truncatum

Acer truncatum Bunge

(Acer truncatum Bunge; Photo commons.wikimedia.org and vi.wikipedia.org)

Latin Name: Acer truncatum Bunge

Family: Aceraceae, Genus: Acer

Synonym Name: Acer cappadocicum Gleditsch subsp. truncatum (Bunge) A. E. Murray; Acer laetum C. A. Meyer var. truncatum (Bunge) Regel; Acer lobelii Tenore subsp. truncatum (Bunge) Wesmael; Acer lobulatum Nakai; Acer lobulatum var. rubripes Nakai; Acer pictum Thunberg subsp. truncatum (Bunge) A. E. Murray; Acer pictum var. truncatum Chin S. Chang; Acer platanoides Linnaeus var. truncatum (Bunge) Gams; Acer truncatum var. acuminatum X. M. Liu; Acer truncatum var. beipiao S. L. Tung; Acer truncatum f. cordatum S. L. Tung; Acer truncatum var. nudum Schwerin.

English Name: Purpleblow Maple, Truncate-leaved Maple, Truncate Maple, Shantung Maple, Purple Blow, Maple Shangtung Maple.

Description: Trees 5-10 m tall, andromonoecious. Bark grayish brown or dark brown. Branchlets slender, glabrous; winter buds ovoid. Leaves deciduous; petiole 3-9 cm, glabrous, rarely puberulent at base when young; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, 8-12 × 5-10 cm, papery, abaxially reticulate, glabrous, rarely with tufts of hairs at vein axils when young, adaxially glabrous, base usually truncate or rarely subcordate, usually 5-lobed, rarely 7-lobed; lobes triangular-ovate or triangular- lanceolate, 3-5 × 1.5-2 cm, margin entire, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate. Inflorescence erect, corymbose; peduncles 1-2 cm, slender, glabrous. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, slender. Sepals 5, oblong, 4-5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals 5, oblong-obovate, 5-7 mm. Stamens 8, 2-3 mm in staminate flowers, shorter in pistillate flowers, glabrous, inserted near inner margin of disk. Disk slightly lobed. Ovary in fertile flowers compressed; style ca. 1 mm, glabrescent. Infructescence corymbose, pendulous, each with 3-10 fruit. Nutlets flat, thick, 1.3-1.8 × 1-1.2 cm, glabrous; wing greenish white, usually ca. as long as nutlets, rarely longer, parallel on both sides, wings spreading at obtuse or right angles. Flowering: April; fruiting: August.

Cultural Conditions:

Light: Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day), Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)

Soil pH: Acid (<6.0)

Soil Drainage: Good Drainage, Moist

Distribution: Growing in thin forests at altitude 400-1,000m. Distributed in North China, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan.

Part Used: Medical part: root barks. Chinese name: Yuanbaoqi.

Harvest & Processing: Excavated in summer, well washed, sliced and sun-dried.

Chemistry: Leaves contain gallic acid. p-sitosterol, beta-amyrin, beta-amyrin acetate, 3, 5-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzoic acid, astragalin, quercetin-3-O-beta-D-galactoside, and quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnoside.

Pharmacology: antitumor activity

Properties & Actions: Pungent, little bitter, little warm. Dispelling the wind, relieving damp, relax sinew and promoting meridians circulation.

Indications & Usage: Lumbar and back pain. Oral administration: decocting, 15-15g; or made as medicinal liquor: 9-15g.

References

- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk

- efloras.org

- theplantlist

- Huang XZ, Tan LX, Gu K, Li C.; Studies on chemical constituentsfrom leaves of Acer truncatum; Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2007 Aug; 32(15):1544-1546, 1604.

- Zhao WH, Zhang JF, Zhe-Wang, Zhang YX, Tian WX.; The extract of leaves of Acer truncatum Bunge: A natural inhibitor of fatty acid synthase with antitumor activity; J Enzyme Inhib Med Chem. 2006 Oct;21(5): 589-96.