Took a look inside this Japanese maple to see if it needed any summer-time pruning; you know, dead or crossed branches and the like. Found this:
Cool. Japanese maples in general have a tendency to fuse if two branches cross: the bark rubs off, cambiums meet, fusion happens. You see fused branches more often in weeping Japanese maples, because the natural branching pattern tends to be a bit of a birdsnest. Standard maples, like the one above, look better--and have better air-circulation--if you help them along by encouraging a vase-like structure.
Funny thing is, I can hardly tell how the above loop formed. The branches must have fused in the middle and atrophied tell-tale branch ends....? Or is the top branch fork messy enough to raise fusion-suspicion?
Low end: looks pretty normal...
High end: suspicious?
Anyhoo, I left this 101 Wonders of Nature candidate intact. It's actually a smart evolutionary move on the part of the tree. Japanese maples are susceptible to fungal/viral infections so, instead of bearing open wounds caused by branch-friction--which would be an entry point for infection--they just seal the problem. If you can't fix it, fuse it.
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