Acer × hillieri Lancaster

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Credits

Dan Crowley (2020)

Recommended citation
Crowley, D. (2020), 'Acer × hillieri' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/acer/acer-x-hillieri/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Genus

Acer

Infraspecifics

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

hybrid: Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).
pollen: Small grains that contain the male reproductive cells. Produced in the anther.

References

Credits

Dan Crowley (2020)

Recommended citation
Crowley, D. (2020), 'Acer × hillieri' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/acer/acer-x-hillieri/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Samara with spreading wings on a specimen of Acer × hillieri at Arboretum Lenoir, Belgium (10 August 2007). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

A cross between Acer cappadocicum and A. miyabei. A deciduous tree to 10 m. Bark grey to brown. Leaves, chartaceous, 8–20 × 10–20 cm, 5(–7) -lobed, the lobes ovate, the three central lobes with a single pair of broad teeth in the apical half, base deeply cordate, apically acuminate, glabrous below, except along main veins, margins entire to undulate; petiole glabrous or pubescent, slender, to 14 cm long, exuding a milky sap when broken; autumn colour yellow to golden brown. Inflorescence corymbose, erect, pubescent. Flowers yellowish green, 5-merous. Samaras with wings spreading at broad angles; nutlets flattened. (van Gelderen et al. 1994; le Hardÿ de Beaulieu 2003).

USDA Hardiness Zone 5

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)

Acer × hillieri was named by Roy Lancaster in 1979 who had identified a plant at the Hillier Nurseries that, dating from before 1935 and raised from seed of a tree of A. miyabei at Kew, was not true to that species. On a visit to Hergest Croft similar seedlings were observed, raised from a specimen of A. miyabei, which had A. cappadocicum ‘Aureum’ growing close by, confirming A. cappadocicum as the pollen parent (Clarke 1988). The Hillier plant was subsequently named ‘West Hill’, and the Hergest plant ‘Summergold’ (van Gelderen et al. 1994). The hybrid is intermediate between its parents and of ‘more moderate growth than A. cappadocicum’ (Clarke 1988 ).

Foliage of Acer × hillieri (Arboretum Lenoir, Belgium – 10 August 2007). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Leaf variation of Acer × hillieri (Arboretum Lenoir, Belgium – 10 August 2007). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

'Summergold'

RHS Hardiness Rating: H6

The form raised and named by Lawrence Banks at Hergest Croft, Acer × hillieri ‘Summergold’ shows the influence of the pollen parent A. cappadocicum ‘Aureum’ in its golden yellow leaves and red new growth in summer (Edwards & Marshall 2019). le Hardÿ de Beaulieu (2003, p. 160) describes it as an ‘average-sized tree with dense, upright branching’.

Acer × hillieri 'Summergold' in the Valley Gardens, Windsor, UK; 23rd May 2010. Image Owen Johnson.

Acer × hillieri 'Summergold' is good in autumn too: Yorkshire Arboretum, October 2020. Image John Grimshaw.

Acer × hillieri 'Summergold' remains attractive at Hergest Croft in Herefordshire, UK, even after the leaves have turned soft green in September 2013. Image Owen Johnson.

In this 1981 planting of Acer × hillieri 'Summergold' at Hergest Croft, yellow returns as autumn approaches on 7th September 2013. Image Owen Johnson.

'West Hill'

RHS Hardiness Rating: H6

The form of the hybrid raised at Hillier’s West Hill Nursery in Winchester, Acer × hillieri ‘West Hill’ is a small- to medium-sized tree with somewhat glossy 5– to 7-lobed leaves (Edwards & Marshall 2019). Its leaves are yellow on emergence as well as in autumn (le Hardÿ de Beaulieu 2003). The UK and Ireland Champion was measured at 15 m tall in 2017, growing at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire (The Tree Register 2018).

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