Winged seeds glow pink at the bay last week. But what are they? © BCP 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010: Update
A big thank-you to the kind folks who wrote to tell me that my mystery tree with the pink samaras is an amur maple, Acer ginnala.
This attractive, shrubby plant is not native to Ontario, or even to Canada. Instead, it’s native to China, Japan and Korea. It was likely introduced here as an ornamental, probably because it grows quickly into a small broadly spreading tree or shrub. And because its leaves colour a brilliant amber and crimson in the fall. Even its samaras add to its attractiveness, glowing a deep shade of pink as they do in late summer to early fall.
My trusty shrub/tree tome (The Complete Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs, Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA.) however, calls this plant Acer tataricum, and says the ginnala name refers to a subspecies. (See page 72.) I’ll leave that discourse to the botanists and taxonomists.
Lynn, a nature lover who wrote to tell me my mystery specimen’s name, says that the Conservation Authority planted this species in our parks during the 1980s before native species became in vogue.
Glad to find out more about this early harbinger of fall. Thanks, everyone! WATC
Monday, August 23, 2010: Original post:
Hey nature-loving cybersphere dwellers, I’m looking for some help. I took this picture at Ashbridge’s Bay Park last week on a lovely morning — before the gloomy days of rain began. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to see the liquid sunshine.)
There are bushes just like this one in several places around the paved path that goes out to the end of our park. But I found this particularly lovely specimen growing on the hillside beside Dog Bay (the protected bay on the south side of the peninsula where the dogwalkers let the pooches in their possession go for a nice cooling swim.)
I was particularly impressed by how the winged seeds of this species glow a vibrant pink colour
I thought I knew what this bush was. Until I started looking it up. And came up empty-handed. There was a day when I did know what it was, but I’m having a brain cramp.
If someone could let me know what this common plant is, I would be grateful. My bush book has more than 800 pages in it, and it’s not helping right now.
Thanks in advance.
© BCP 2010
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