I have some seedlings found under a Coral Bark Maple. They have the same red stems, but since they are not grafts, they cannot be labeled as a Coral Bark. It's nice that Home Depot didn't try to pass of the seedlings as Coral Barks, by accident or design. It's easy to mix them up as has happened with Bloodgoods at various nurseries where I have shopped.

Acer conspicuum 'Phoenix'

There are other cultivars of Acer palmatum that offer red or "coral" colored bark - 'Beni Kawa', 'Japanese Sunrise', 'Fjellheim' - but unlikely these would be sold as unnamed selections and at such an inexpensive price (and several are dwarfs as well). And I'd have a hard time believing HD carries something as unusual as red snakebark maples :-) And for only $29!!

Generic Acer palmatums (seedlings) may have extremely variable appearances, including bark coloring, depending on their parentage. I think Mike is pretty close in guessing these are just unnamed forms or JM seedlings.

Thanks, guys. I bought one to replace my coral bark maple that died on me. With the winter red bark I will have the same effect. I'll know what I really have when I can see the leaves.

Since Japanese maples and coral bark maple in particular are often having disease problems these days it might not be a good idea to plant the replacement back in the same spot. It would help deciding what to do with the new one a lot if you had an idea what particular destructive agent took out the old one.