User blog:Epiphlyte/Vine Maple (Acer circinatum)

VINE MAPLE (Acer circinatum)

A deciduous shrub or small tree, sometimes reaching a height of 20 metres; it has a short, crooked trunk, with twisted, spreading limbs and a low, irregularly shaped crown. The trunk sometimes grows almost horizontally and may root if it touches the ground. Vine maple can become a sprawling shrub that grows into dense thickets.

LEAVES

Leaves are almost circular, 6 to 11 centimetres in diameter, with 7 to 9 lobes; the lobes are triangular, with sharp single or double teeth; bright yellowish-green on top, pale green and downy underneath, turning red or yellow in autumn.

FRUIT

The fruit consists of winged seeds, 2 to 4 centimetres long, joined in pairs and borne in a cluster; the wings of the seeds are spread widely.

BARK

Thin and greenish, becoming reddish-brown; smooth, or sometimes with shallow cracks.

VINE MAPLE ON THE MAP OF B.C

It is mostly restricted to southwestern British Columbia, particularly at low to mid elevations. It occurs in a few places on southern Vancouver Island and in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

HABITAT

Vine maple occurs most frequently on moist soils, rich in nitrogen, particularly along the banks of streams and wet sites. It can live in the shade but also occurs in openings in the forest. Vine maple and alder are often the fIrst trees to establish after landslides. Vine maple commonly occurs with bigleaf maple, Douglas-fIr, western hemlock, grand fIr, and Pacific dogwood, and sword fern underneath.

USES

The Coast Salish people used vine maple occasionally for bows and frames for fIshing nets. The lower Thompson people used the wood for making snowshoes and cradle frames. On the coast, the aboriginal people boiled the bark of the roots to make a tea for colds. They burned the wood to charcoal, mixed it with water, and drank it to combat dysentery and polio. They always collected the bark and wood early in the morning from the sunrise side of the tree.

NOTES


 * The common name probably comes from the gnarled and crooked, vine-like appearance of the tree.