Looking quite stunning is the garden, is the Eastern Chinese (Anhui, Zhejiang provinces) native, Acer pubipalmatum. Our 13 year old specimen is now 15′ tall. Related to the more common Japanese maple, Acer palmatum, the main difference is the pubescent (hairy) leaf backs. If that isn’t complicated enough, taxonomists then lumped Acer pubipalmatum with Acer pauciflorum. Now, a splinter group within the Maple Society has decided that this wasn’t right, and they actually represent two different species. OMG, it’s probably good that taxonomist don’t use traits like hairy backsides to distinguish between other species, like Homo sapiens, or we’d have an even bigger taxonomic mess on our hands.
