Golden Ingot Yuanbao: Yuanbao Maple Planting Prospects and Cultivation Techniques, and How It Differs from the Five-lobed Maple

Yuanbao maple (Acer truncatum) belongs to the Aceraceae family, genus Acer. It is a deciduous tree, 8-10 m tall, with longitudinally fissured bark. Every part of the yuanbao maple is valuable. It gets its name because its samara shape resembles the “gold ingot yuanbao” of ancient China, and it is a tree species endemic to our country. So what are the planting prospects for yuanbao maple? What are its cultivation techniques?

The yuanbao maple is a deep-rooted tree species with strong sprouting ability, slow growth and a relatively long lifespan; it is relatively light-demanding, slightly shade-tolerant, and prefers lateral shade. It suits a mild, cool and humid climate and is relatively cold-tolerant, but excessively dry and cold conditions are unfavorable for its growth. Deciduous tree, up to 10 m tall, with simple opposite leaves, palmately 5-lobed, the lobe tips gradually pointed, sometimes the middle lobe or the central 3 lobes further 3-lobed, the leaf base usually truncate, and the lowest two lobes sometimes spreading downward. Flowers small and yellow-green, borne in terminal cymes, flowers and leaves appearing together in April. Samara flat, the wing relatively wide and slightly longer than the seed body, shaped like a yuanbao.

Yuanbao Maple Planting Prospects

Planting Profit

The yuanbao maple not only has strong cold and drought tolerance and performs outstandingly in windbreak, sand fixation and soil and water conservation, but its distinctive red-leaf winter landscape has also made it a “new favorite” in urban and rural greening. Not only that, the yuanbao maple is also a valuable woody oil crop.

In a yuanbao maple grove in Yangjiagou Village, Xinglin Town, Fufeng County, beneath the dense maple leaves of each yuanbao maple tree hide green fruits shaped like “gold ingots,” swaying gently in the breeze. Wang Gaohong, the owner of the maple grove, explained that Fufeng developed yuanbao maple relatively early, and especially in recent years the pace has been very fast. A contiguous 50-mu yuanbao maple base produces 2,500 kg of maple seeds, with an income of more than 100,000 yuan. In addition, the company adopts a “company + experts + base + farmers” production and operation model, driving more than 20 nearby townships to develop more than 20,000 mu of yuanbao maple seedlings. Last year, more than 2,400 farming households sold more than 20 million seedlings, achieving sales revenue of more than 10 million yuan, and the per capita income of seedling growers reached more than 4,000 yuan. The yuanbao maple has become the leading industry driving local people out of poverty and toward prosperity.

Market Value

1. Ornamental value:

The young leaves of the yuanbao maple are red, and the autumn leaves are yellow, red or purplish red. With its graceful tree form and elegant leaf shape, it is an excellent foliage tree species. It is suitable as a shade tree, street tree or landscape forest species, and is now mostly used for road greening. The yuanbao maple is shade-tolerant, prefers a mild, cool and humid climate, has strong cold tolerance, and is not demanding about soil; it can grow in acidic, neutral and calcareous soils. It has relatively strong resistance to sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride, and also a relatively strong ability to absorb dust. It is an excellent tree species for shelterbelts, timber forests and the greening of industrial and mining areas.

2. Economic value:

The wood is hard and is an excellent material for construction, furniture, carving and joinery. The bark fiber can be used for papermaking and as a substitute for cotton.

3. A new resource of high-quality edible oil:

Its seeds are large and high in oil content. The kernel of the yuanbao maple contains 48% oil, and the mechanical pressing oil yield is 35%, higher than the oil yield of rapeseed. Yuanbao maple oil is a semi-drying oil containing oleic acid and linoleic acid, among which the essential fatty acids——linoleic acid and linolenic acid——reach as high as 53%. The oil quality is excellent, which is rarely seen among edible vegetable oils.

4. A new resource of high-quality protein:

The kernel of the yuanbao maple contains 25%-27% protein and no starch, which is rarely seen among plant seeds. After the oil is extracted from the kernel, the oil meal is a very good edible protein. According to measurements, the protein of the yuanbao maple contains 9 amino acids essential to the human body and is a complete protein. The high-quality food made from it is delicious and is an ideal protein resource.

Key Cultivation Points for Yuanbao Maple

Select superior varieties and grow young seedlings. The yuanbao maple and tree species and varieties such as the painted maple (Acer mono) are not easy to distinguish from one another in individual morphology, or vary considerably. Choose individual seedlings with strong trunk dominance and large annual growth for stumping and planting. In the early stage, increase the density appropriately, preferably 1,200-1,500 plants per mu, focusing on developing trunk form. After about 3 years of cultivation, divide and replant once, maintaining a density of 200-450 plants per mu to cultivate large seedlings with a diameter at breast height of more than 5 cm. It is not advisable to choose soil that is too clayey for raising seedlings; drainage must be good, otherwise root rot easily occurs. When transplanting seedlings more than 4 years old, they must be given a soil ball or directly potted in containers, otherwise the survival rate is relatively low.

Differences Between Yuanbao Maple and Five-lobed Maple

The yuanbao maple and the five-lobed maple are both trees of the Aceraceae family, genus Acer. Both have graceful tree forms and beautiful leaves and fruits, and their leaves turn red in autumn. So what are the differences between the yuanbao maple and the five-lobed maple? They are mainly distinguished by their morphological characteristics:

1. Tree height: Compared with the five-lobed maple, the yuanbao maple has a relatively shorter growth habit. The yuanbao maple can reach a maximum height of about 13 m and has weaker vigor, while the five-lobed maple can reach 20 m in height.

2. Bark: The trunk bark of the yuanbao maple is grayish yellow with shallow longitudinal fissures, and the twigs are grayish yellow (first-year branches are tender green), smooth and hairless; while the five-lobed maple has thin trunk bark that is grayish brown, and its young twigs have sparse hairs when they first emerge, which gradually fall off later.

3. Leaves: Both have simple opposite leaves with palmately lobed blades. The yuanbao maple, also known as flat-based maple or North China five-lobed maple, has palmately 5-lobed leaves, sometimes with the middle lobe further divided into two, the lobe tips gradually pointed, the leaf base usually truncate, rarely heart-shaped, and both surfaces hairless; while the five-lobed maple, also known as the painted maple, has leaves usually palmately 5-lobed, the leaf base usually heart-shaped, the lobes ovate-triangular and entire, both surfaces hairless or with tufts of hair only in the vein axils on the underside, and the reticulate veins distinctly raised on both surfaces.

4. Fruit: The flowers of both the yuanbao maple and the five-lobed maple are polygamous and yellow-green, mostly in terminal corymbs. Their fruits are both samaras. The fruit of the five-lobed maple spreads at an obtuse angle, and the fruit wing is about 2 times or more than 2 times the length of the seed body, which is flat. The fruit of the yuanbao maple has two wings spreading at roughly a right angle, a relatively large and raised seed body, and fruit wings that are relatively wide and equal to or slightly longer than the seed body, shaped like a yuanbao.

5. Seedlings: Under the same conditions, five-lobed maple seedlings grow faster and have fewer side branches, generally reaching more than 1 m in height in 1 year; yuanbao maple seedlings grow more slowly and have more side branches, generally reaching 50-80 cm in height in 1 year.

The differences between the yuanbao maple and the five-lobed maple are mainly reflected in their morphological characteristics. Planting yuanbao maple not only beautifies the environment but can also absorb harmful gases such as smoke and dust. In addition, the five-lobed maple has strong adaptability to urban environments and relatively few pests and diseases, and is the most widely distributed species in the Aceraceae family in our country.