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Botanical Name: Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'

Common Name: Coral Bark Japanese Maple
Origin: Japan/Korea/China
Campus: CNW, KS

Notable Feature: The bark of the first and second year’s woody growth remains a bright coral-orange-red through the winter offering color in the winter landscape.  The pink coloration is less pronounced to almost absent in summer.

Habit: A slow-growing, upright, vase-shaped form with twiggy stems.  This deciduous tree will reach heights of 20’ or more with a narrower spread.  

Flower: Small, reddish purple, cutely attractive flowers emerge in May with the new leaves; borne in stalked clusters.  Species is monoecious (male and female flowers occur on same tree).

Fruit: Flowers are followed by two-winged seed pods (samaras) and ripen in fall.

Foliage: Two-inch, ferny, and deeply lobed leaves are a medium green all summer; in fall they turn a yellow-orange

Interesting fact: Shows to best advantage if properly sited, and against a pale background it is especially effective.  The cultivar name means coral tower (sango meaning sea coral and kaku meaning towering) suggesting this pink-barked cultivar resembles coral rising upward from a reef.

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