Acer macrophyllum

Big-leaf maple

Family: Sapindaceae · Type: tree · Native

Big-leaf maple is a California native tree found in California Floristic Province (excluding the Great Valley) along streambanks and canyons at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this tree produces small greenish-yellow flowers in pendent racemes that emerge after the leaves. Growing to heights of 30 meters with a spreading, multi-stemmed form, it develops a robust trunk and broad canopy. Its distinctive leaves are large, measuring 8 to 15 centimeters long and 10 to 25 centimeters wide, with 5 deeply-lobed segments that have additional rounded secondary lobes, appearing green and softly pubescent underneath. The tree's fruit develops distinctive winged seed pods that spread at dramatic 50 to 90 degree angles.

Habitat: Common. Streambanks, canyons

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV)

California counties: Los Angeles, Kern, San Diego, San Bernardino, Glenn, Tulare, Siskiyou, San Mateo, Plumas, Monterey, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Trinity, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Amador, Shasta, Lake, Napa, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Mendocino, Marin, Yolo, Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Santa Barbara, Del Norte, Placer, Ventura, Tehama, Lassen, Colusa, Solano, Humboldt, Mariposa, El Dorado, Nevada, Calaveras, Fresno, Tuolumne, Sierra, San Francisco

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.