Bigleaf Maple

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Bigleaf Maple foliage


Plant Characteristics
Habit   tree

Height: 80 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 80.
Width: 80 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 80.
Lifespan: perennial
Origin: Alaska to California
Bloom: early spring, mid spring, late spring
Cultivation
Exposure: sun
Features: deciduous, flowers, fire resistant
Minimum Temp: -30°C-22 °F <br />243.15 K <br />437.67 °R <br />
USDA Zones: 6 to 8
Sunset Zones: 4-17
Scientific Names

Aceraceae >

Acer >

macrophyllum >


Acer macrophyllum (Bigleaf Maple or Oregon Maple) is a large deciduous tree in the genus Acer.

It grows to be up to 35 m tall, but more commonly 15 m to 20 m tall. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska south to southern California. Some stands are also found inland in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California, and a tiny population occurs in central Idaho.[1][2]

Bigleaf Maple flowers and foliage

It has the largest leaves of any maple, typically 15-30 cm across, with five deeply-incised palmate lobes, with the largest running to 61 cm.

The flowers are produced in spring in pendulous racemes 10-15 cm long, greenish-yellow with inconspicuous petals. The fruit is a paired winged samara, each seed 1-1.5 cm diameter with a 4-5 cm wing.[1][2]

Bigleaf maple can form pure stands on moist soils in proximity to streams, but are generally found within riparian hardwood forests or dispersed, (under or within), relatively open canopies of conifers, mixed evergreens, or oaks (Quercus spp.).[3]. In cool and moist temperate mixed woods they are one of the dominant species [4].


Read about Bigleaf Maple in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Acer macrophyllum, Pursh. Large-leaved Maple. Tree, to 100 feet high: lvs. cordate, deeply 3-5-lobed or cleft, pubescent when young, pale green beneath, 8-12 in. across; middle lobe mostly 3-lobed: panicles glabrous, narrow, pendulous, 4-5 in. long: fr. with yellow, bristly hairs, wings spreading at right angles or nearly upright, over 1 in. long. W. N. Amer.—Handsome round-headed tree, remarkable for its large foliage; not hardy in the N.


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More information about this species can be found on the genus page.

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References

External links


  1. 1.0 1.1 Plants of British Columbia: Acer macrophyllum
  2. 2.0 2.1 Jepson Flora: Acer macrophyllum
  3. US Forest Service
  4. [1]