Bigleaf Maple
The Bigleaf Maple or Oregon Maple is a large
deciduous tree that grows to be up to 35 m tall and 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.
It has the largest leaves of any
maple, typically 15-30 cm across, with five deeply-incised palmate lobes. The
flowers are produced in spring in pendulous
racemes 10-15 cm long, greenish-yellow with inconspicuous petals.
Encyclopedia
The
Bigleaf Maple or
Oregon Maple is a large
deciduous tree that grows to be up to 35 m tall and 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.
It has the largest leaves of any
maple, typically 15-30 cm across, with five deeply-incised palmate lobes. 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.
In the more humid parts of its range, as in the
Olympic National Park, its bark is covered with
epiphytic moss and
fern species.
Maple syrup has been made from the sap of Bigleaf Maple trees. While the sugar concentration is about the same as in
sugar maple , the flavor is somewhat different. Interest in commercially producing syrup from Bigleaf Maple sap has been limited.
