The Maple Tree Bike Tour

This was the first of my plant tours (I also did the conifer tour and now I am preparing a neighborhood native and wild plant walk).

In Seattle, as in most cities, there are tons of maples on the streets. But there is only one native maple tree here, and that is the big leaf maple (we also have the shrub vine maple). The maple trees that get so colorful are actually from the east coast US and Europe. Our maple just gets brown, maybe a little yellow. But our maple has big leaves and, in the forest, supports the largest mass of moss of any known tree. In this tour we see the big leaf maple in its native habitat and also see about 12 other species of maple trees, discussing their origins, morphologies, and so forth.

This tour and the conifer tour both were quite inspired by Arthur Lee Jacobson - look him up on the web. He is one of the premier local botanists.

I did this back in 2002 I think. I don't have the flyer posted but I will.