Vine Maple Tree
The Vine Maple (Acer circinatum, Pursh.) grows from British Columbia into northern California, and from the low bottom lands to an altitude of 1,000 feet, but always along streams. In the lowlands it throws up several stems from the root, which droop as they grow as if their weight overcame their strength. Branches that spring from these prostrate stems strike root, and soon the interlacing trunks and the branches they bear cover the ground to the exclusion of everything else.
The vine maple's leaf is thin and almost circular, with a heartshaped base, and 7 to 9 triangular, cut-toothed lobes, uniform in size and shape. In summer they are green, with prominent veins and veinlets, and pale linings. In autumn they turn to orange and scarlet. The flowers are borne in terminal umbels, and the samaras are smooth, with widely divergent wings.