Bigleaf maple

Description:

Bigleaf maple is a large perennial tree, often multi-stemmed, and up to 35m tall. Young bark is green and smooth while older bark is gray-brown, ridged, and often covered with mosses, lichens, and ferns. Older trees provide an ideal environment for mosses because the bark is rich in calcium and moisture. The leaves are 5 lobed maple leaves 15-30 cm across. They are opposite, deciduous, and they excrete a milky sap when cut. The leaves turn yellow and fall off the tree in autumn. The flowers are greenish-yellow cylindrical clusters with flowers 3mm across. The fruit are golden-brown, paired winged seeds (samaras) about 3-6cm long, with wings spread in a v-shape.

Habitat:

Bigleaf maple 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. It commonly occurs in mixed groups of trees with red alder, black cottonwood, Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock.

Notes:

Spotted in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, Vancouver island, Canada. (sources: see reference)