Botanist Spies Blunder: New Canadian Currency Features a Norway Maple – Not a Sugar Maple

January 18, 2013

On this day, Reuters published an article about the new Canadian twenty dollar bill.

The article, by Randall Palmer, was called "Canada Put 'Wrong' Maple Leaf on New Canadian 20-dollar Bill."

Here’s an excerpt:

Canada is known for the Sugar Maple, emblazoned on its red-and-white flag, but the Bank of Canada has put what one careful botanist says is a foreign Norway Maple leaf on its new currency.

The untrained eye might not at first spot the difference between the Maple leaf on the new $20, $50, and $100 bills and the North American Sugar Maple.

But it is clear to Sean Blaney, a botanist who tracks plants for the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Center in New Brunswick.

The Maple leaf (on the currency) is the wrong species,” he told Reuters on Friday.

To Sean, the mistake was easily spotted. The Norway Maple leaf has more lobes and looks more pointy than the outline of a Sugar Maple leaf.

For its part, the Central Bank said the image on the new bills was purposefully designed to be generic and not represent any specific maple species. Spokesperson Julie Girard said the leaf was not a Norway Maple but simply a stylized leaf.

Sean remains skeptical.

I think it’s just an after-the-fact excuse.

That may have been their intention, to not have it be a specific species of Maple, but they should have drawn it differently... because the Maple that they’ve drawn is quite clearly a Norway Maple.