PNW Native
The bigleaf maple has the largest leaves of any maple species and can grow over 100 ft. tall with a wide canopy spread. The leaves have 5 pointed lobes and are a distinctive maple-shape, and are 5-12 in. wide. The leaves are rich green but turn to a bright yellow in the fall before the leaves drop. The trees are often covered with moss and lichen. Flowers are small, yellow, and borne on clusters called racemes, Fruits are known as samaras: hairy seeds with glider-like attachments that spiral as they fall to the forest floor. (2). The natural range of bigleaf maple extends along the West Coast from BC to inland California. (1)
Bigleaf maple prefers sites not shaded out by conifers, often growing in recently-disturbed sites. It tolerates moist-dry low-middle elevations. (2) Epiphytic plants such as lichens, mosses, club-mosses, and ferns thrive on the bark of bigleaf maples. These epiphytes are often abundant enough to generate a layer of nutrient-rich ‘soil’ over the bark, which the maples access by growing small roots along their bark. (3) Acorn seeds are a food source for small mammals and birds. The saplings and shoots are browse for ungulates. Bigleaf maples improve soil quality and have utility in restoration of disturbed riparian areas. (1)
Indigenous people of the Northwest Coast used bigleaf maple wood for dishes, trays, clubs, and was of special importance for making canoe paddles. In six Salishan languages, the name for bigleaf maple translates to “paddle tree”. Fiber from the soft inner bark was woven into bags, (4) dresses, ropes, and dried and eaten. A gum from the springtime buds mixed with oil was used as a hair treatment, a bark infusion was drunk for treatment of tuberculosis and sore throats, and the large leaves were used in food storage. (1) The Nlaka’pamux tribe ate sprouted maple seeds. (2)
Maple wood is very hard and a valuable lumber species, and when it has grown with lots of knots and whorls, it is valued for woodworking and making crafts and instruments. (3) Bigleaf maple wood is used to finish housing interiors and for axe handles along the Northwest Coast. (1)
