Plant · P-031

Bigtooth Maple

Acer grandidentatum

A small, often multi-stemmed maple native to limestone canyons and mountain drainages across the interior Southwest, where it spreads into slow clonal copses by rooting wherever its low branches touch the ground. The sap makes good syrup - among the best of the region's maples - but only where winters run cold; it barely flows where winters stay mild. Squirrels, chipmunks and a long list of birds feed and nest in it, and the wood burns hot as fuel. Growth is slow for the first few years, while most of the plant's effort goes into a deep taproot rather than height.