The bigleaf maple can produce tiny canopy roots that grow into epiphyte-derived canopy soil to help nourish the tree itself.

Like some other maples, bigleaf maple produces sap that can be boiled down to a mineral-rich and delicious maple syrup.

Pacific Northwest tribes have used bigleaf maple for medicinal purposes, for making wooden canoe paddles, and more.

These seeds “helicopter” down on windy days in the late fall. The wings on the seeds are large, up to 5 cm (2 in) long, and shaped in an upside-down V. One tree contains both male and female flowers, making it monoecious, which means “single house.” Insects pollinate the flowers in the next few weeks, which eventually produce large, brownish, double-winged seeds (samaras). A cluster of pendent yellowish-green flowers (raceme) emerges in April–May just as the new leaves are popping open. Reproduction begins at about 10 years for bigleaf maples. It grows largest in the moist soils of river bottoms and at the base of foothills, but tolerates dry sites as well.īigleaf maple leaves and flowers. Habitat and Distributionīigleaf maple grows in low to mid elevations in coastal ranges from Alaska through California, and largely west of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada crests. In a streamside mix of hardwood and conifer trees, a mature bigleaf maple will be the one most likely draped in mosses, lichens, and ferns. And it stands out in a crowd when it comes to decor. The bigleaf maple is the tallest maple in North America, reaching over 30 m (100 ft) in some areas. Giant leaves are not its only distinctive feature. The young bark is smooth and grayish-brown, eventually becoming red-brown and deeply fissured with age. Its leaves and branches grow in an opposite formation, and spread into a domed canopy at maturity. These goliath photosynthesizers measure up to 30 cm (12 in) wide and almost as long, a singular feature that distinguishes the bigleaf maple from others in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae (though some still place it in Aceraceae). True to its name, it dangles unusually large, 5-lobed, palmate (palm-shaped) leaves from its branches.

The bigleaf maple ( Acer macrophyllum), also known as the Oregon maple, is a deciduous, long-lived tree native to the Pacific Northwest.

Maple tree types leaves