Today we're featuring Mauro Stemberger. Someone with a powerful and prolific presence throughout our bonsai world. And he's not afraid to take on very large trees with gusto and considerable talent. 

A Taxus cuspidata (var Nigata) from Bonsai club Dolomiti night, at Mauro Stemberger's ItalianBonsaiDream. 

Crazy action on the trunk...

...that pops up on the crown. 

Mauro calls this unusual little beauty a Southern box, so we know it's some kind of Buxus. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. 

A closer look. 

'Duckbilled box'?

Another Taxus cuspidata (Japanese yew) which proves once again that for deadwood, Taxus is hard to beat (and HARD too!).

Creature feature. 

Foliage framing the lower trunk.

And it's a lower trunk worth framing.