The Bigleaf Maple or Oregon Maple (Acer macrophyllum) is a large deciduoustree to 35 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.
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.
Bigleafmaple generally grows on coarse, gravelly, moist soils, such as those found near river, lake, or stream edges, but it can occur on other moist soils such as seepage areas.
Squirrels, grosbeaks, and mice eat the seeds of bigleafmaples, and deer and elk eat the twigs.
Bigleafmapletrees are often draped in mosses, because the bark is rich in calcium and moisture, adding to the attractive wet rainforest plant community.
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