CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY TREE STUDY KIT

BIGLEAF MAPLE

• Bigleaf maple is the only native maple in Marin County.
• It often grows along streams in the company of redwoods. The large leaves are an adaptation that allow it to make use of as much as possible of the light that filters through the canopy of taller trees.
• Many children are familiar with the maple helicopter seeds called samaras by botanists. The wings of these seeds allow them to travel away from the parent tree and hopefully land in a place where they have more room to grow than if they had simply fallen at the foot of the parent tree.
• Native Americans in Washington and British Columbia used an infusion of bark for tuberculosis, the sticky bud gum for hair tonic, the leaves in steaming pits to flavor meat, and the sap as maple syrup. California Native Americans used the seeds as food and the twigs in basketry.