The Japanese form of the cultivar name, Beni Otake, translates as "red bamboo." The bamboo part of the name references the standard for the leaf shape of the cultivar. The palmate leaves are supposed to be deeply divided, nearly to the base of each leaf, with narrow lobes. Such leaves are thought to resemble the foliage of bamboo plants. In my experience of a single mature specimen of the cultivar, and of viewing photos online and posted to this database, many leaves fall short of the standard, having broader lobes, which make them resemble numerous other Acer palmatum cultivars. In one way of grouping Japanese maples according to leaf type, 'Beni Otake' falls into the linearilobum group.

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