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Princeton spotlight: paperbark maple named December 'Tree of the Month'
Summary
Taylor Sapuder, Princeton's municipal arborist, highlighted the paperbark maple (Acer griseum) for December, noting its cinnamon-colored exfoliating bark, slow growth (about 6–12 inches annually), and plantings in Marquon Park and at Overbrook and Clover.
Taylor Sapuder, Princeton's municipal arborist, presented the paperbark maple (Acer griseum) as the municipality's December "Tree of the Month," citing its distinctive exfoliating, cinnamon-colored bark that is especially visible in winter.
Sapuder said the species was chosen for December because its peeling bark provides visual interest when other trees have lost their leaves and flowers. "This exfoliating cinnamon-like bark," he said, "...is all normal with the paperbark maple," and compared the effect to that of a river birch.
Though nonnative, Sapuder said the paperbark maple is "not invasive," and he noted it was introduced to cultivation in the United States in 1907 at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard. He described the species as very slow-growing — "maybe about 6 to 12 inches in length" — which, he said, makes it a good patio or small-site tree.
The featured specimen can be seen in Marquon Park, a 17-acre arboretum in Princeton, and Sapuder said another planting is visible at the cross street of Overbrook and Clover on the Clover side. The segment was presented as part of the municipality's regular "Tree of the Month" feature.
