Here is an old Japanese maple that is in very good health, but it has been neglected in terms of basic repotting. It has very nice bark and the branches are very well ramified. It's extremely twiggy.
Unfortunately, no one undertook the basic repotting that is so essential with a field grown tree. The root base is mounded up, but instead of a single radial roto system, the tree has been allowed to grow from the center down, creating this bulge at the expense of the root base.
