Vine maple (Acer circinatum)

Lining the sidewalk near the east entrerance of the Communications Building Map

Vine Maples typically have many slender stalks, large almost circular leaves with 7-11 lobes, and coarsely toothed margins.

Comparisons between the Pacific Northwest and New England are inevitable. Both tend to be cool and moist, mountainous, forested, and filled with people who are proud of where they live. True, our mountains are taller and more glaciated, our rivers are larger, our trees taller, and our wilderness much wilder. But come autumn we North-westerners hang our heads, and stand abashed. New England falls are spectacular. Against this overwhelming onslaught of color we have one natural weapon - the Vine Maple.

In the early fall Vine Maple leaves turn beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow, and when the sun slices through the clouds and lights up a vine maple bush, a little "Wow" can be in order. Along the highways into the western Cascades the splashes of fall color are usually Vine Maples.