Welcome to the Japanese Maple at DHS! You can find this plant just outside and to the East of the DHS library main entrance. See how it has multiple trunks? This is a defining characteristic of a Japanese Maple! The bark of the tree is green, but this can vary in the over 1000 cultivars that exist. Take a look at a leaf. Our Japanese Maple has seven lobes on its leaf, but different varieties have all sorts of leaf shapes. Now please turn your attention to the fruit. See the winged shape? This is called a samara and acts like a helicopter in the wind, allowing the seed to travel to far away lands. Ready to go? Well, okay, but before you do take a look at the sun shining on it. That's right -- there isn't much! In fact, Japanese Maples are adapted to low-light environments like below the canopy of a forest. Thanks for listening!

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