2/15 is the Day of the Canadian Flag! An anniversary for the day the Canadian flag, which features a sugar maple leaf motif, was adopted!

The words momiji and kaede are different ways of saying maple leaf, but they both refer to the same type of plant!

There's a slight difference in the shape of the leaves for the plants they refer to, however. Most types of maples in Japanese have either the word "momiji" or "kaede" appended to them. The word "momiji" originates from the archaic word "momizu," meaning to turn red, and was initially used to describe any leaves that turned red in autumn. Conversely, "kaede" comes from the word "kaerude," meaning frog hands, which referred to a specific maple with leaves resembling a frog's hands. Over time, as language evolved and more leaves were given names, both words came to specifically denote maples in general, leading to a blurred distinction between the two. However, due to the prominence of the Japanese maple (iroha momiji) and the sugar maple (satou kaede), these particular species have become almost synonymous with "momiji" and "kaede" respectively, if any distinction needs to be made. But it's worth noting that even the Japanese maple is also sometimes called iroha kaede instead of iroha momiji so even this distinction can get very loose.

Momiji More specifically, iroha momiji, or the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum).

Kaede More specifically, satou kaede, or the sugar maple (Acer saccharum).