“Ambrosia maple” is what woodworkers call maple that’s been infested by the ambrosia beetle.  The beetles colonize a dead or dying tree and bore holes in the wood.  A fungus that the beetles carry around on the bottoms of their feet take up residence in the tunnels and begin to feed on the tree’s xylem tissue.  The discoloration of the wood (known as spalting) is the byproduct of the fungus’s digestion.  I thought the beetles ate the fungus, but perhaps they eat the nutrients the fungus leave behind.  In any case, the result is a rather striking figuring of the wood.

Makes for a cool looking little dog figure, too.