Visiting an arboretum recently I noticed at their tiny nursery that they had for sale a maple with huge leaves labelled Acer miyabei (pictured below to the left with the 'New hybrid' label).Clearly, the plant was not what the label said so I inquired with the owner who claimed that it was a seedling from a samara hand picked from their very old A. miyabei. I went to the place where the miyabei stand and, looking around, I saw at a distance an Acer macrophyllum. The owner claims that she never picks up macrophyllum seeds and sell's only miyabei's. It is true that a stray macrophyllum seed in a bed of Miyabei's would be easily spotted, they are quite different. But I have a hard time finding any miyabei's traits. When I use De Langhe's keys I always conclude on macrophyllum ID. Any thoughts? Gomero
