What kind of leaf appears on the Canadian flag?

The flag of Canada features a single red maple leaf at its centre, set on a white square between two red bands. The design is so closely tied to the country that the flag itself is often simply called "the Maple Leaf." It became Canadas official national flag in 1965.

The maple leaf was chosen because it had already been a symbol of Canada for well over a century. It had appeared on emblems, badges, and coats of arms long before the flag existed. The designer wanted a simple, distinctive symbol that pointed to no particular region or group but represented the whole country, and the maple leaf fit perfectly.

The maple leaf on the flag has eleven points, but that number carries no special meaning. The original design actually had more points, but when tested it looked blurry and hard to recognise from a distance or in strong wind. Designers simplified it, and the clean eleven-point shape was the version that stayed sharp and clear when the flag was flapping. The leaf is also a generic shape, not copied from any single species of maple tree.

This article was written using information from Wikipedia.