The genus Acer belongs to the Maple family and has its natural distribution in temperate forests and tropical mountain forests. The genus Acer has 111 species.
Acer micranthum (”Komine-kaede” in Japanese) is a large bush, or small tree, up to 8 meters tall in its natural habit. It is one of the most beautiful maples for the small garden. The leaves are opposite, 5 lobed with toothed margins and are 5-7 cm long. The leaves are orange or red in colour both when they first unfold and in the autumn. The foliage is much more deeply incised than in the similar Acer tshonoskii and the crown is more densely branched.
The flowers are very small (micranthum = with small flowers) and yellow green in colour. The flowers sit in terminal recemes that are 2-5 cm long.
The fruit is also attractive with its pink colour in the autumn contrasting with the reddish leaves.
The Arboretum’s 4 m tall examples, which stand near the door to the main office were collected at 1200 m elevation on Odaigahara on Honshu in Japan by the Nordic Arboretum Committee's expedition in 1976.