Kruel turned and stared through the darkness, searching each leaf and branch, following the distorted bark patterns across the ruined thunder-shaken trunks.

The verse was dense and mystical, as in "Letting Go," a 1985 poem: In process of letting go the breath, Moment for relieving your eyes' ache, You see bark patterns, a child's hand Catching and throwing, next to the tree.

Common names are Asna, Saj or Saaj, Indian-laurel,Matti, Taukkyan (Burma), Sadar, Matti or Marda (India), and casually "crocodile bark" due to the characteristic bark pattern.

The Japanese name urikaede refers to the bark pattern resembling the skin of a melon, as also in the similar bark of Acer rufinerve (urihadakaede).

His show closed the New York season with a roundup of trends, from side-striped flat-front trousers to open-weave knits, one with a bark pattern.

The chameleon suit lost its bark pattern, reverting to a dark grey.

In some older tree specimens the bark can (unlike most birches) develop vertical cracks into irregular scaly plates revealing rough darkish brown bark patterns.

The scientific and English names derive from the reddish down on the veins, the Japanese name from the bark pattern.