Acer glabrum var. diffusum
Mountain maple
Family: Sapindaceae · Type: shrub · Native
Mountain maple is a California native shrub found in the southern High Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, White and Inyo Mountains, and Desert Mountains on dry montane rocky slopes and canyons at elevations of 1,600 to 3,100 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces small greenish-yellow flowers with rounded lobes. Growing as a multi-stemmed shrub 1 to 3 meters tall with spreading branches, it has a distinctive leathery foliage. Its leaves have 2 to 3 rounded lobes, each with 3 to 7 small teeth, and measure approximately 1.4 to 2.8 centimeters long with petioles 0.9 to 2.4 centimeters in length.
Habitat: dry montane rocky slopes, canyons
Bloom period: Apr-May
Elevation: 1600-3100 m
Bioregions: CaRH, s SNH, SnBr, W&I, DMtns
California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Riverside, Tulare, Mono, Alpine, Butte, Siskiyou, Plumas, Placer, Tuolumne
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.