Acer palmatum var. atropurpureum When Swedish doctor-botanist Carl Thunberg was privileged to travel to Japan late in the eighteenth century, he secreted out drawings of a small tree that would eventually become synonymous with the high art of oriental gardens. The first specimen of the tree arrived in England in 1820 and was named Acer palmatum after the hand-like shape of its leaves. This would hardly surprise the Japanese who for centuries referred to their group of maples as kaede…
