Wow! That is a huge leaf!

I have always found overly large leaves interesting. Amazing how it stayed attached all summer.

"Amazing how it stayed attached all summer."

These jumbo sized leaves are common to Acer macrophyllum, one of our native maples here, so barring damage or disease, they remain firmly attached until now when they drop. Heavy winds are not common until late fall or winter in my climate so they are seldom disturbed by those, typically dropping all the leaves before these storms occur. And as I live in a wooded area surrounded by these trees (and our native Doug firs and western red cedars), these massive leaves are suddenly all over everything!!

The trees themselves can get huge as well - 50' - 75' is common in more cultivated settings but in native forests, they can grow to 100' and with an almost equally wide canopy. And are often covered in a variety of epiphytes, including mosses and ferns.

I’ve probably seen this tree during travels to the west coast, but you’d think I’d remember those macro leaves. Its range hugs the coast and I’m wondering how it performs when planted more inland? I’m guessing not very well, but that is a complete guess.

There are a few isolated stands in idaho but in general, it's range is limited to the western side of the Cascades or the Sierras. And it prefers the mild winter, cool summer climate of the west coast so likely not well suited to much of the continental US.

It is far too large a tree for most urban or even suburban settings so one tends to see it most commonly in more rural settings where it springs up naturally. It is a prodigious seed producer so seedlings abound.

Natural distribution includes arid sites above the Columbia River in WA, where it is apparently living on seepage - surrounded by a parched, treeless landscape.

Said to want a warmer summer climate than that of Britain and Northern Europe, where it does not do as well as we here in the otherwise similar Coastal Northwest might expect it to.

Maximum leaf width 22 1/4 in. according to Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed, Berkeley).

In his Trees of Seattle - Second Edition (2006) he says

Most neighborhoods have huge landmark specimens: our thickest trunks require over 20' of tape measure. Carkeek Park has one 102' x 29' 7 1/2" x 92' wide--but an Oregon tree was 37' around in 1993! Seattle's tallest, in wooded ravines, are 120'-130' or more. At Discovery Park on the Loop Trail are two very big trees: 106' x 19' 10 1/4" x 108' wide, and 83' x 25' 1" x 107' wide. The tallest in the State in 1989 measured 158' in height!

Unfortunately in later years a still-being-studied, quite destructive disease syndrome has been sweeping through local big-leaf maples. So any of the examples mentioned in the preceding paragraph may now be on the way out or dead already.

Said to want a warmer summer climate than that of Britain and Northern
Europe, where it does not do as well as we here in the otherwise similar
Coastal Northwest might expect

Yes, I think they would do better in France maybe. There is one in Gothenburg botanical garden however, the only one I ever saw around here. Looking healthy but not a huge tree, at least not yet.

Wow that is a huge leaf. Thanks for sharing! Very cool!

Has anyone had success growing one on the New England coast? I'd like to try.

That's a big leaf up there. I found one today. I had no idea there were such big leaves until I found this on my windshield coming out of a Christmas gig over near Charlotte. Stuck it in my car and drove off. I searched the forums here and found this thread. (I usually hang out in the citrus forum).

Here's the leaf I found. That's a 12 inch ruler on top. I measured it with a another ruler and it's around 16.25 inches across. Wow. Nature always amazes me.

Leaf doesn't look right for Acer macrophyllum but it is definitely a biggie!!

Yeah. I'm not too up on leaves. I have to rake'em a lot though. Wonder what variety it's from?

I think more likely to be a sycamore leaf than a maple but I'm sure our ID know-it-all will be by soon to clarify :-) Sycamores can have very large, maple looking leaves!! Did you notice any trees in the area with unusual flaky bark?? Sycamore bark is very distinctive and noticeable.

I didn't notice, but I'm playing there again next week. I'll be on the outlook.

Thanks!

There is a beautiful specimen of Acer macrophyllum in Arboretum Wespelaar in Belgium. Hardiness zone 8 with the odd zone 7 winter. Climate reminiscent of the PNW. A picture of this tree (it was planted around 1986, don't know how old the tree exactly is):

Acer macrophyllum (Wespelaar, Belgium)

And even big trees start small ...

Van Gelderen(s), Maples for Gardens (1999, Timber) is where I saw it stated that the species does not do particularly well in northern Europe. Consistent with this Johnson, Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland (2011, Kew) reports that the species is "Very occasional" there, lists only a couple measured examples. But on the other hand also says "happiest in high humidity", which is almost the opposite of the Van Gelderen depiction.

As a side note Johnson includes A. macrophyllum 'Aureum', says "The 1922 original still grows at Glasnevin" (and gives 2005 measurements). I had never paid this cultivar any attention until I first saw it shown and offered on the Forest-farm, Williams, OR web site just yesterday. I wonder if the material being presented to the market here consists of the same clone as at Glasnevin. Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed) doesn't mention the 'Aureum' so it wasn't listed in wholesale catalogs here prior to that time, didn't meet his criteria for being included in any other way.