This is a species of maple native to Japan which can easily be mistaken for and mislabeled as Acer japonicum, Acer palmatum or Acer shirasawanum. In fact when we purchased this particular plant it was labeled as Acer Japonicum aconitifolium "The Fern Leaf Maple". Hair features help to distinguish it from the Acer palmatum species. In early spring the Acer sieboldianum leaves are downy with white hairs and the petiole and veins on the undersurface of the leaf remain hairy during summer. We find that the most brilliant colour changes are in the Japanese maples/acers that had green summer leaves.The autumn colour changes of Acer sieboldianum occur In mid October and about one week before many of the acer palmatum species.