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Field Maple macrofossils (fruits, wood and charcoal) have been recovered from the Cromer Forest Bed in Suffolk and show the presence of the species in Britain from the mid-Pleistocene at least. In the Holocene there are few records before c.5,000BP when Neolithic farming began to open the forest and create regeneration habitats for secondary woodland and scrub. Occurrences increase in late prehistoric times and after, probably because of woodland clearance favouring its growth. Almost all of the Holocene macroscopic records have been found in an archaeological context.

Field Maple can occur in three main forms, as a tree, as coppice or as an uncoppiced shrub. The young branches are at first green, quickly becoming light reddish-brown in colour, with light brown longitudinal strips. The branches often have cork-like fluting. The bark is very light grey, smooth with irregular fissures when young and cracked when older. It has small, five-lobed, rounded leaves. They are dull green above, paler underneath and they turn a brilliant yellow in autumn. The winged fruits are about 2.5cm long, and are in horizontal rather than curved, as in other maples

In natural conditions, it prefers heavy soils and is tolerant of deep shade. It is not a pioneer or invasive species. I have not had a single “self-set” seedling despite the vast quantities of seeds produced.

I have read that, in some areas, Field Maple is mainly or exclusively a hedgerow species. This maybe so, but in my experience it is far too fast-growing to be used with species such as hawthorn or holly: it will quickly overshadow any other species in the hedge.

 

 

 

 

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No special cultivation needed.

 

Recommended to plant at around 3m (11') spacings. Certainly, we have found that it can out-compete anything else around it. This is not a good plant for growing with Hazel. It sends out very long lateral side-branches, which overshadow and intermingle with the hazel and prevent the new hazel shoots from growing straight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Field Maple doesn't seem to suffer from any particular diseases nor is it subject to much browsing damage. However, a number of trees have succumbed to frost damage during the winters of 2008 and 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not so much a case of pruning as of continually hacking back huge swathes of annual growth. This is a very fast growing species. It will quickly shade out any slower-growing species around it. I have found that its best use is grown in blocks or lines as a shelter-belt for other, more useful species. Never grow it in a hedge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A soft, very white wood that rots very quickly in contact with the ground.