The Morton Arb

Trees & Gardens

Use our Interactive Collections Map and our Plant Collections Map to identify where plants are located on our grounds.

Explore our Plant Database

Integrated data of The Morton Arboretum's living collections, herbarium, interactive collections map, and photographs. Search database

How Plants are Named
The words in the scientific name of a plant all mean something. Learn how plants get such interesting names. Click here

How To Read a Plant Label at the Arboretum

Taxonomic Groups

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Maple: Fall Color That Leaves You Breathless!

Maples (Acer) are famous for their fall color and our collection is a fantastic place to see the glowing yellow of the sugar maple, the vibrant yellow of the Miyabe maple, and the dramatic red of the Japanese maple.

Maple Tree at the Arboretum

Maples are a popular landscape tree. There are over 1,000 cultivars of Japanese maple alone! However, it is not the Japanese maple, but the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) that steals the show every autumn at the Arboretum. Thousands of visitors enjoy a priceless experience each fall when they drive through the woods on the East Side of the Arboretum. At this time of year the woods are set ablaze with the glowing bright orange fall color of sugar maple. However, this is just one of our maple species. Explore the entire maple collection and find many unique and exceptionally beautiful specimens.

See the large Miyabe maple (A. miyabei) that is a superior specimen tree for its adaptability, upright growth habit, and wide crown. Also, look for the red peeling bark of the paper-barked maple (A. griseum), a native of China, and related species Manchurian maple (A. mandshurica). These species are highly prized for outstanding brilliant fall colors, attractive bark, and adaptability. Two successful Japanese maple cultivars are burgundy lace Japanese maple (Acer palmatum'Burgundy Lace') and seven-lobed Japanese maple (A. palmatum var. heptalobum); these cultivars have performed exceptionally well for many years.

We continue to add new species acquired through plant explorations. Some of them include Manchurian striped maple (A. tegmentosum) located east of the trail in the northern section of the collection, and Korean maple (A. pseudosieboldianum). See the large specimen located southeast of the A. tegmentosum mentioned above.