Uncommon

You’re not likely to encounter paperbark maple trees outside of China and even there they are endangered. The Arboretum got its first few back at the beginning of the last century and they’ve been cultivated so that there are probably close to a dozen planted there now.

This tree is curious to me. It’s a maple and I thought I knew maple trees. When I homesteaded in New Hampshire in the 70s, maples were a staple of my woodpile. I recognized their bark and their leaves and could sometimes tell the difference between sugar maple and red maple.

But these trees are different. Their bark presents like birch and their leaves look like a cross between maple and oak leaves. And while they echo the fall colors of most maples, their bark joins the show, which is a new one for me.

And while the bark peels, like a birch, the colors and textures remind me of something other than tree bark. Visual surprises abound!