Acer grandidentatum


Acer grandidentatum, commonly called bigtooth maple, is a species of maple native to interior western North America. It occurs in scattered populations from western Montana to central Texas in the United States and south to Coahuila in northern Mexico.

Description

It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to tall and a trunk of diameter. The bark is dark brown to gray, with narrow fissures and flat ridges creating plate-like scales; it is thin and easily damaged. The leaves are opposite, simple, long and broad, with three to five deep, bluntly-pointed lobes, three of the lobes large and two small ones at the leaf base; the three major lobes each have 3–5 small subsidiary lobules. The leaves turn golden yellow to red in fall.
The flowers appear with the leaves in mid spring; they are produced in corymbs of 5–15 together, each flower yellow-green, about diameter, with no petals. The fruit is a paired samara, green to reddish-pink in color, maturing brown in early fall; each seed is globose, diameter, with a single wing long.

Taxonomy

It is closely related to Acer saccharum, and is treated as a subspecies of it by some botanists, as Acer saccharum subsp. grandidentatum Desmarais.

Distribution and habitat

It commonly grows in limestone soils but can adapt to a wide range of well-drained soils, from sand to clays to even white limestone areas. It prefers sheltered canyons, valleys, and the banks of mountain streams, primarily at higher elevations but occasionally at lower elevations in disjunct locales such as the southern edge of the Edwards Plateau in Texas and in the Wichita Mountains of southwestern Oklahoma.

Cultivation

Although it is found in continental climate over all of its natural range, planted specimens grow well in the maritime climate of Vancouver. It is slow growing when young, and does not have many pests.
It is occasionally planted as an ornamental tree, valued for its drought tolerance and ability to grow in rocky landscapes.

Uses

The sweetish sap is used in western North America to make maple sugar.