Paperbark maple Acer griseum

Introduced to Britain from China in 1901 by legendary plant hunter Ernest 'Chinese' Wilson, the paperbark maple is an ornamental garden favourite. With its copper-red peeling bark and seemingly ever-changing foliage, it is a bright and cheerful little tree.

The paperbark maple has been helpfully named so that there is no confusion as to its characteristics. This is, quite simply, a maple that has bark like paper.

In the world of trees, Acer griseum is a small species, generally growing to around 12m (40ft ) in height. But what it lacks in stature it more than makes up for in beauty. Its copper-red bark ensures that it is easy to identify, even in winter, as does its technique of bark renewal. As the old sheaves of bark die, they peel themselves off revealing the young, smooth bark beneath. This self-exfoliation, although unusual, is not unique and also occurs in several species of birch.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew sent a young botanist by the name of Ernest Henry Wilson to China. As well as looking into the effect the charcoal industry was having on the forests, Wilson was also asked by his financier, the Veitch Nursery, to find interesting plants.

The plan was to find the handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata) which had been described but never collected. Eventually, Wilson found the location where the tree was last seen only to find a tree stump and a newly-erected hut built from its timber!

Over the next decade or so, 'Chinese' Wilson, as he was to become known, brought back more than 1,000 garden plants, more than any other collector. This eventually included the handkerchief tree, the regal lily (Lilium regale) - on a trip during which he broke his leg and left him with a limp for life - and also the paperbark maple.