Also called Oregon maple.

Part of 🍁︎ maple  genus Acer in soapberry  family Sapindaceae in cashew / 🌰︎ chestnut / 🍊︎ citrus / 🍁︎ maple  order Sapindales.

Native to 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Canada and USA Pacific Coast and 🗻︎ coastal mountains.   🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48) (color key), 🗺 map (North America, Central America).  Adobe Acrobat Reader file

Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
  🪵 wood from some large specimens is called quilt maple, figured maple, flame, tiger stripe or fiddleback.  It is gorgeous, and used to make high-end musical instruments, including 🎸︎ guitars.  Often harvested illegally, from public or other lands, by meth-heads. [1]

Acer hosts caterpillars of 285 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
🌳︎🐝︎ Trees for Bees

This plant is known to be a host for (in areas where invasive) 🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF)  Lycorma delicatula.

One of the soft maples.

From 1843–2018, two large beautiful mature trees grew in 🇮🇪 Ireland, on the grounds of 🏛 Trinity College in Dublin, [2] just outside the building holding the Book of Kells.  Said to have been planted there in a wet area of the grounds due to the tree's ability to draw from the soil and evaporate large quantities of water. [3]   A process, I learned much later, called phytohydraulics, using evapotranspiration.  Terminology!   Unfortunately, after 175 years of faithful service, and suffering from heart rot, the trees blew down/were cut down.

References

[1]  "The Olympic Peninsula's Meth-Head Maple Thieves."  Seattle Weekly.  .   Accessed .
     "Perched above the northeast shore of Harstine Island in south Puget Sound."  Seattle Weekly.  .   Accessed .

[2]  "Monumental trees on the grounds of the Trinity College in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland."  Monumental Trees.   Accessed .

[3]  Tour guide, to EP and others in our tour group, .

Learn more about bigleaf maple Acer macrophyllum

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Missouri Botanical Garden Flora of North America USDA PLANTS db USFS Wikipedia