Bigleaf Maple
| Acer macrophyllum | |
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| Bigleaf maple foliage | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Aceraceae |
| Genus: | Acer |
| Species: | A. macrophyllum |
| Binomial name | |
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Acer macrophyllum Pursh 1813 |
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| Natural range | |
| Synonyms | |
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Acer macrophyllum, the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus Acer.
It can grow up to 48.89 metres (160 ft 5 in) tall, but more commonly reaches 15–20 m (50–65 ft) tall. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska 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 (5.9–11.8 in) across, with five deeply incised palmate lobes, with the largest running to 61 centimetres (24 in). In the fall, the leaves turn to gold and yellow, often to spectacular effect against the backdrop of evergreen conifers.
The flowers are produced in spring in pendulous racemes 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long, greenish-yellow with inconspicuous petals. The fruit is a paired winged samara, each seed 1–1.5 centimetres (3⁄8–5⁄8 in) in diameter with a 4–5-centimetre (1 5⁄8–2-inch) 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.
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.) In cool and moist temperate mixed woods they are one of the dominant species. It is very rare north of Vancouver Island though cultivated in Prince Rupert, near Ketchikan and in Juneau.
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Wikipedia