It’s Vine maple month in Oregon! Our native Acer circinatum will be putting on its annual color show throughout WyEast Country this month (the Latin name refers to its circular shape leaves, each leaf typically having 7 points). Vine maple is perhaps our most adaptive, least demanding broadleaf tree. In deep forest it snakes among old-growth conifers, creating fantastic, twisted forms that give the tree is common name. In this environment, its limbs of bright green bark are often draped with a thick jacket of moss.
When our conifer forests have been logged, Vine maple cheerfully emerges from the debris in the forest recovery. Here, it quickly adapts its sprawling forest form to an upright, vase shape in full sun. Despite being a rainforest species, these trees are surprisingly drought-tolerant, as well. The timber industry is fond of killing off the natural recovery of the forest understory to speed up the return of more plantation Douglas fir trees. Yet, Vine maple are seldom fazed, sacrificing their above-ground growth to this onslaught of industrial herbicides, but later bursting with new shoots from their roots, rebuilding from scratch.
In this way, Vine maple combine with other understory survivors to help stabilize soils and minimize erosion after logging. It’s an important role lost to the impatient bottom line of the timber industry. These diminutive trees recover with equal enthusiasm after wildfire, offering the same instant stabilizing benefits that large recovering tree species will take decades to provide.
Some of the best scenic drives in WyEast Country to take in the Vine maple show are along the Clackamas River highway, Lolo Pass Road and Cooper Spur loop road and trails like Tamanawas Falls, Little Zigzag Falls and Punchbowl Falls County Park.
___________
Image Description: Vine maple leaves of coral-red and scarlet decorate a red stem that angles diagonally across this close-up image. Each maple leaf has seven points, with yellow veins leading to each point. The blurred background in this image consists of bright yellow Vine maple foliage with a few green highlights.
Photo © WyEast Images (2026)
Leave a Reply