The Arnold Arboretum has an extensive collection of maples (Acer spp.), containing 141 of the approximately 230 botanical taxa from around the world. Because of its diverse and numerous holdings of wild-collected maples, the Arnold Arboretum is designated as one of the Plant Collection Network’s maple collection sites. Our collection is especially rich in rare and unusual Asian maples, including a number of endangered species.
Because of these valuable accessions, the Arboretum’s maple collection was ranked as the most significant in the world for conservation purposes in a report by Botanic Gardens Conservation International. This organization, which promotes plant conservation efforts at botanic gardens and similar institutions, analyzed the maple collections of 228 institutions in 37 countries and found that the Arboretum holds the greatest number of Acer species listed as endangered or critically endangered in the wild.
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