Description: Another less than ideal photo, but I wanted to show the intriguing new shoots of this rather nice snakebark maple. I looked up tegmen (as in tegmentosum), a word i vaguely remembered from my 'Invertebrate form and function' module at uni and it's the hard modified wing that covers the true wings on a beetle (ie the characteristic shiny abdomen covering). I'm guessing that whoever named this maple was refering to the unusual pale wing-like coverings to the buds shown here, which I don't remember seeing on any other maples. All in all a nice effect. Sapindaceae, China. Date: 18 March 2009, 13:05. Source:
Acer tegmentosum - new shoots. Author:
peganum from Small Dole, England.