Rough-barked maple is an extremely attractive small tree from the Far East. The leaves comprise three separate leaflets, unlike most of the more familiar maple species, giving it a more exotic look. In spring when the leaves break bud the branches look as if they are covered in a transparent reddish veil. Every autumn the foliage takes on a beautiful warm orange-red colour. The branching of the trunk, reminiscent of apple trees, together with the shaggy cinnamon-coloured bark, make it a fine sight in winter.
Mustila has what is probably the only seed-producing rough-barked maple group in Finland, dating from the late 1930s. Over the decades these trees have become ever more decorative and have suffered no damage even in the severest winters. It seems astonishing that this treasure of the Korean forests is hardly to be found outside Mustila.
