By Kopasetic
United Kingdom 
I have an Acer about ten years old. The edges of lots of the leaves have turned brown as though they have been burned - which I though they had with the strong sun we have experienced. However, it is now showing those drops you get from sycamores, like miniature helicopters that twist in the wind. It has never had these before now. Is it dying, or is there something I can do to save it? Please tell me.
21 Aug, 2014
Answers
Acers have exactly the same seeds as Sycamores, this is what you are seeing. Acer flowers are very small and insignificant and can easily be missed. If your Acer is in full sun or a windy spot far more likely to be the cause of the browning leaves. One of ours got burnt when we had a frost in early May.
21 Aug, 2014
You haven't said whether this Acer is in a pot or the ground, but the brown edges, if they are not 'frazzled' are likely to have been caused by insufficient water when the weather was very hot. If they're frazzled as well as brown, wind and hot sun will both cause that kind of damage to the leaves.
As for the mini helicopters, these are seeds, which means your tree flowered this year and you probably just didn't notice, they're not very noticeable, so they're not indicative of a problem. A sycamore tree is also an Acer - its Acer pseudoplatinus, and all the acers produce similar seeds after flowering (if they flower).
21 Aug, 2014