Acer nikoense Miquel var. griseum Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 8: 294. 1894; A. leiopodum (Handel-Mazzetti) W. P. Fang & H. F. Chow; A. pedunculatum K. S. Hao; A. shensiense W. P. Fang & L. C. Hu; A. triflorum Komarov subsp. leiopodum (Handel-Mazzetti) A. E. Murray; A. triflorum var. leiopodum Handel-Mazzetti; A. zhongtiaoense W. P. Fang & B. L. Li; Crula grisea (Franchet) Nieuwland.

Trees to 20 m tall, androdioecious, sometimes andromonoecious. Bark orange-brown or red-brown, fissured. Branchlets cylindric, those of present year purplish, densely pubescent, older ones dark purple or dark brown, hairs persistent on branchlets for 2 or 3 years; buds dark and small. Leaves deciduous; petiole 2-4 cm, densely pilose; leaf blade papery, abaxially glaucous, pubescent, densely so on veins, adaxially dark green, pubescent when young, glabrescent, with 3 leaflets per petiole; petiolule 5-8 cm, pubescent; leaflet blades elliptic or elliptic-oblong, 3-8 × 2-5 cm, apex acute; middle leaflets cuneate apically, coarsely toothed, with 2 or 3 large ± blunt teeth. Inflorescence cymose, small, pilose, usually 3-flowered. Pedicel 2-3 cm, densely pilose. Sepals 5. Petals 5. Stamens 10, glabrous. Disk glabrous, extrastaminal. Fruit yellowish brown; nutlets globose, 8-10 × 6-8 mm, densely pubescent; wing including nutlet 3.2-3.8 × ca. 1.4 cm, wings spreading at 90° or nearly erectly. Fl. Apr, fr. Sep.

● Mixed forests; 1500-2000 m. SE Gansu, SW Henan, W Hubei, NW Hunan, S Shaanxi, S Shanxi, E Sichuan.