In her familiar scrawl, my sister had written: Dear Steven I hope the red maple tree gives you years of beauty ... the Japanese maple had already shed its leaves. Now dormant, it was prepared ...

with vibrant hues ranging from yellow to orange to red. While we usually associate maple foods with flavorsome maple syrup, the sap that comes from the tree's trunk, the leaves themselves are also ...

One in five maple species is threatened in the wild, according to the first full assessment of extinction risks. Known for the vivid colour of their autumn leaves ... of all tree species by ...