BIGLEAF MAPLE
acer macrophyllum

• The Bigleaf Maple is also known as Broadleaf Maple, Oregon Maple
• The Bigleaf Maple is well named as its leaves are enormous with stems often as long as the leaf

• The Bigleaf Maple is the largest and fastest growing maple in Canada
• The Bigleaf Maple has a narrow crown supported by a branch-free stem for half its length when grown in the forest
• When grown in the open, a few large, spreading branches support a broad crown
• Seeds are food for small mammals and birds
• Twigs of the Bigleaf Maple are food for elk and deer
• Often draped in mosses

• The Bigleaf Maple is found in the southwest corner of British Columbia
• Low to mid elevations
• Coarse, gravelly, moist soils such as found near river, lake and stream edges

• The Bigleaf Maple grows up to 36 metres

• Small, greenish-yellow purple when young. The pollen cones are yellow in colour
• About 3 mm across
• Hang in clusters

• Two winged seeds that are joined as the base
• 3 to 6 cm, hairy
• Often stay on the tree after leaves have fallen

• Bigleaf Maple leaves are thick, large (15 to 30 cm across), five to seven lobes
• Shiny, dark green on top, paler on the bottom
• Turn yellow then brown in the fall
• Will bleed a milky, sticky juice from the broken end of a picked leaf

• Greyish-brown
• As the tree ages becomes shallowly grooved

• Close grain, moderate hardness

• Modern - furniture, interior finishing, musical instruments, flowers can be used in salads
• Traditional - wood: dishes, pipes, clothing hooks, paddles; inner bark: baskets, rope and whisks; young shoots: eaten; sap: type of maple syrup