Tatarian Maple

(Acer tataricum), a shrub or tree of the family Aceraceae. The Tatarian maple measures 8–12 m in height. The bark is smooth and almost black. The leaves measure 5–11 cm in length and are entire, more rarely slightly trilobate, and usually ovate and biserrate. The fragrant greenish white flowers grow in dense panicles. The wings of the fruit separate at an acute angle and turn red in autumn.

The Tatarian maple is drought- and frost-resistant and shadetolerant. It grows in broad-leaved forests, on riverbanks, and along the slopes of ravines and gorges in the steppe and foreststeppe zones of the European part of the USSR and in the Caucasus, Central Europe, the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, and Iran. It is cultivated as an ornamental and in the USSR is grown in strips to protect fields in the European part of the country, Siberia, and Kazakhstan. The tree yields nectar. The wood is used to make carved articles and is burned as fuel.