Kingdom Plantae Family Sapindaceae Scientific name Acer glabrum Rank Species | Order Sapindales Genus Acer Higher classification Maple | |
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Similar Maple, Acer circinatum, Acer grandidentatum, Acer spicatum, Acer macrophyllum | ||
Acer glabrum is a species of maple native to western North America, from southeastern Alaska, British Columbia and western Alberta, east to western Nebraska, and south through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado to California, Arizona and New Mexico.
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Description
Acer glabrum is a small tree growing to 10 metres (33 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 20–30 centimetres (7.9–11.8 in) diameter. The leaves are 2–10 centimetres (0.79–3.94 in) broad, three-lobed (rarely five-lobed), variable in the depth of lobing, occasionally so deeply lobed as to be divided into three leaflets; the lobes have an acute apex and a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are produced in corymbs of five to ten, yellowish-green, at the same time as the new leaves in spring. The fruit is a samara or winged seed. These develop in pairs at an angle of less than 45° when mature.
Varieties
There are four to six varieties, some of them treated by some authors at the higher rank of subspecies:
Ecology
Acer glabrum is plentiful in many parts of the Rocky Mountains, often growing with Ponderosa Pine, Douglas-fir, and Quaking Aspen.
Uses
Some Plateau Indian tribes drink an infusion of Douglas maple as a treatment for diarrhea. Ramah Navajo use an infusion of the glabrum variety for swellings, and also as a "life medicine", or panacea.