New Canadian banknotes feature the wrong maple leaf, claims Atlantic Canada Conservation & Data Centre botanist, Sean Blaney. Blaney says the illustration is clearly not the endemic North American sugar maple but the Norway maple (an invasive tree species), which has more lobes, each with a more pointed tip.
“We wouldn’t think of putting a palm tree on the Canadian currency or a tiger or baboon or something that doesn’t occur in Canada as a native species and the same should go for Norway maple,” he added.
I have to say that the banknote illustration does look a lot more like a Norway maple than a sugar maple to me. The Bank Of Canada’s spokesperson defended the leaf by saying it was meant to be an amalgam of the various maples found throughout Canada. As Canada’s Head of State already comes from another country, maybe they thought it would be appropriate to use a foreign maple too.
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