An error by the Bank of Canada in the design of its new 20 dollar bills made from plastic has placed the Norwegian maple leaf, and not the native sugar maple leaf that is on Canada’s national flag, on its currency.

The mistake was spotted by an observant Canadian botanist, Sean Blaney, of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Center in New Brunswick. A statement issued by the Bank of Canada says that the maple leaf was intentionally designed to look like many different kinds of maple leaf and is not representative of any particular species of maple tree.

It is not a Norway maple leaf. It is a stylized maple leaf and it is what it ought to be.

Julie Girard, Bank of Canada

Many critics, however, think that this is a convenient excuse intended to cover up what is, in essence, a very simple mistake. According to Blaney:

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

 

[Reuters]