Acer pentaphyllum, early November. A rare form of Chinese or five-lobe maple native to to southwestern Sichuan in China. Discovered near the small Tibetan town of Muli by plant collector Joseph Rock on an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society in 1929. Three trees survived Rock’s journey, all ending up at the Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco. These trees all died by 1991, but were propagated by grafting prior to death.