One of the best lace leaf cultivars for hotter climates, it's name means "like the cascading leaves of the rice plant" and has been grown since at least the mid 1800s in Japan. The leaves in early spring are very dark purple and I have heard them described as almost black. As summer approaches they become more red, then turning bronze before being one of the last maples in our gardens to finally give in to the Georgia heat and turn green. Fall color is usually bright fiery red. Some people consider the cultivars ‘Inaba shidare’ and ‘Red Select’ to be the same but they are not, these cultivars are very different. ‘Inaba Shidare’ grows much more vigorously, has much larger leaves and is not nearly as pendulous as ‘Red Select’. The color changes during the seasons do not match either. A lot of plants available in the trade labeled ‘Inaba shidare’ do not seem to be either variety.

10 Year Size: Height: 4-6 Feet    Width: 7-9 Feet