Acer laurinum Hassk.

The only true tropical maple spreading to the S Hemisphere, this species is relatively rare.

Trees evergreen, to 30(-48) m tall, androdioecious, sometimes andromonoecious. Bark gray. Branchlets green, glabrous; winter buds ovoid, scales 7-11 pairs. Petiole (1.5-)3-6(-10) cm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially glaucous, whitish or light blue-gray, adaxially glossy dark green, lanceolate or oblong-elliptic to ovate, 9-15 × 3-8 cm, abaxially ± pubescent, trinerved, lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs, 2 basal veins reaching beyond middle of blade, base rounded or cuneate or broadly cuneate, margin entire, glabrous, apex shortly acuminate to obtuse. Inflorescence cymose-paniculate, appearing in axils of fallen leaves, 2.5-10 cm, glabrous or pubescent; peduncle 5-35 mm. Pedicel 4-17 mm, glabrous. Flowers pale yellowish. Sepals 5, ovate, 2.5-3 mm, glabrous. Petals 5, 1.5-2.5 mm. Stamens (4-)8-12, glabrous; filaments ca. 5 mm in staminate flowers, ca. 2.2 mm in pistillate flowers. Disk amphistaminal, glabrous. Ovary rudimentary in staminate flowers. Samara brownish yellow; strongly veined; nutlets slightly convex, ca. 15 × 7 mm, pubescent or nearly glabrous; wing falcate, broadest near apex, including nutlet 4-7 × 2-3 cm, wings spreading acutely. Fruit peduncle 1-3 cm, stout. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Sep-Dec. 2n = 26.

SW Guangxi, Hainan, SE Xizang, NW and S Yunnan [Cambodia, S India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].

Evergreen forests, scattered; 700-2500 m.

Acer chionophyllum Merrill; A. decandrum Merrill; A. garrettii Craib; A. laurinum subsp. decandrum (Merrill) A. E. Murray; A. laurinum var. petelotii (Gagnepain) Phamhoang; A. longicarpum Hu & W. C. Cheng; A. macropterum T. Z. Hsu & H. Sun (1997), not Visiani (1860); A. niveum Blume; A. philippinum Merrill.

Acer laurinum is an evergreen Asian tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is the only member of its genus with native populations in the Southern Hemisphere, with a distribution encompassing Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos (Khammouan), Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and southwestern China (Guangxi, Hainan, Tibet, Yunnan).

Acer laurinum reaches 40 metres (130 ft) in height. It has a trunk with scaly, red-brown bark. The leaves are glabrous, with no lobes or teeth. It has white flowers, followed by paired samaras. The species is dioecious, with separate male and female flowers.