Two maples

The Montpellier Maple (Acer monspessulanum) grows on limestone hills. Mostly it is a shrub, but in some places you can find magnificent trees about fifteen metres high. Early in autumn, when the nights are getting colder, it changes its colour. The green turns into a blazing orange-red.

But not this year. Now, beginning November, the small three-lobed leaves are still green, turning just yellow or salmon. May be the real autumn colours are still to come?

The Field Maple (Acer campestre) is another small-leaved maple. In autumn its colours changes into yellow, nearly never into orange. The leaves are more or less irregular, with at least five lobes.

Regarding the soil where it grows, the Field Maple is not as difficult as the other species, it grows nearly everywhere.

Field Maples are often planted in gardens and parks, often the leaves of cultivated trees are slightly larger than those of truly wild trees.