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Acer circinatum
Vine maple is a many-stemmed, shrub-like native tree of the Pacific Northwest, valued for its brilliant autumn colour. It does best in cool, moist conditions with some shade, especially in its first years.
Acer circinatum, or vine maple, is a species of maple native to northwestern North America. Vine maple typically grows as a low-elevation coastal tree in temperate areas of high precipitation such as the west coast of Oregon and northern California, as well as the temperate rainforests of Washington and British Columbia. Vine maples play an important role in conserving the biodiversity of lowland ecosystems by enriching upper soil layers and providing habitat for other organisms.
It is occasionally cultivated outside its native range as an ornamental tree, from Juneau, Alaska, and Ottawa, Ontario, to Huntsville, Alabama, and also in northwestern Europe.
Acer circinatum can be found from southwest British Columbia to northern California, usually within 300 km (190 mi) of the Pacific Ocean, specifically along the Columbia Gorge and throughout coastal forests. It is found no further inland than the east side of the Cascade Range. Acer circinatum is most often found growing interspersed within conifer forests of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and Cedar (Thuja plicata). Vine maples are also known to occasionally establish small colonial gaps within conifer forests, where they proliferate after an overstorey disturbance (such as the death of a large tree), and are able to maintain the gap by preventing the re-establishment of larger trees.
Field Maple · Kyushu Maple · Cappadocian maple · Père David's maple · Horned maple · Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala · Paperbark maple · Fullmoon Maple · Lobel's Maple · Bigleaf Maple · Montpellier Maple · Manitoba Maple
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acer circinatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
