![]() ![]() Vine Maple is becoming a very popular ornamental shrub. Traditional – bow, frames for fishing nets, snowshoes, cradle frames, firewood, cooking tools bark: boiled to make a tea for colds branches: cradle swings.Modern – ornamental because of its spectacular fall colours.Native to Pacific Coast region, south through western British Columbia to California in moist soil conditions, particularily along shaded stream edges and understory of coniferous forests. One of the first trees to establish after a landslide.Crooked, short trunk that can sometimes grow almost horizontally and may root where it touches the ground.Appears as a small tree or shrub and can grow into a dense thicket.Fruit: 4 cm long paired, long-winged keys spreading almost horizontally reddish when young single-seeded maturing in autumn Flowers: 12 mm wide, with spreading purple sepals and whitish petals in broad clusters at end of short twigs with new leaves in spring generally both male and female on same plant. Twigs: slender, green to reddish-brown, with whitish bloom. Bark: gray to brown smooth or finely grooved. Leaves: opposite 6 – 11 cm long rounded, with 7 – 11 long-pointed lobes, sharply doubly toothed, with 7 – 11 main veins from notched base long leafstalks with enlarged bases joined colouration: bright green above, paler with tufts of hairs in vein angles beneath. But, it is also found in dry, open areas such as clear cuts and lava flows. Vine Maple seems to grow best in moist shaded areas with some light reaching it, often near openings or stream banks. ![]() Tiny white flowers at the ends of the branches give way to winged seeds. The leaves turn either golden (in shade), or bright red (in sun), in the autumn. The leaves are typical maple leaf shape with 7 to 9 lobes. The branches and young stems are green, becoming brown with age. The branches often spread across the ground, rooting to spread new colonies. The native peoples of the Western United States also used the branches and stems of the vine maple to make a variety of equipment and tools such as fishing dip nets, bowls and spoons, snow shoe frames and baskets.Vine Maple is a shrub or multi stemmed shrubby tree which grows to a little over 20 feet in height. A grouping of vine maples creates a network of intertwining branches that can serve as nesting locations for birds or as an escape from larger predators and birds of prey. The shoots and leaves are eaten by elk and deer, while the seeds are consumed by birds and small mammals. Vine maples are an important food and refuge plant for wildlife. The samaras mature to a medium brown in later summer and twirl to the ground in the fall. The samaras are also very attractive as they grow in clusters of bright red underneath the leaves. Fruits develop during the summer months into the typical maple two-seeded winged formation known as a samara. The flowers of the vine maple are formed in small red clusters in mid to late spring and contrast beautifully with the green leaves. Vine maples growing in shaded woods can grow up to 25 feet and 12 to 20 feet wide and have a very open and vine-like habit while those growing in full sun tend to be shorter and denser and much more shrub-like in form. The mature size of vine maples is highly variable as it is determined by the environment in which they are growing. The bark of the vine maple is smooth and grayish brown on mature trees and can be bright green or reddish on young trees. In the fall, the leaves change to dramatic tones of red, orange and gold. In the spring, the leaves emerge as chartreuse and then mature to a medium green color. Vine maples have palmate shaped leaves with seven to nine lobes on each leaf and are similar in appearance to the Japanese Full Moon maple (Acer shirasawanum). Vine maples are most often found growing under large stands of conifers such as Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) or mixed with other deciduous trees and shrubs such as Red Alder (Alnus rubra), Big Leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) and Indian plum (Oemlaria cerasiformis). This tree is found growing in a variety of different habitats, which include forests, disturbed and opened fields, coastal woodlands and alongside streams, rivers and lakes. ![]() ![]() Native to Western North America, the vine maple is known botanically as Acer circinatum. Although not a true vine, the growth habit resembles a vine as this tree is often multi-stemmed rather than single trunked and grows outward and up in a vine-like fashion. The vine maple is a beautiful species of maple that is well known for its stunning fall color and smaller stature. ![]()
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