Acer baobabicus

mdvaden

mdvaden

Participating member
Location
Beaverton. Oregon
Came across this Bigleaf maple today, and the first thing that went through my head was a thought about the Baobab trees.

I had no idea what it was until looking at it closely for remaining seeds, branching and leaf remnants. Because the burl is gigantically bigger than what I'm accustomed to seeing on Bigleaf maple.

The tree is not much over 25 feet tall. The grass strip is pretty wide for an urban area. The bigger burl is at least 8 feet in diameter, and probably 9 feet at ground level.

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That's funny, there was a Norway Maple very similar to that next door to the house I grew up in. Never saw another burl quite like it until this one.

-Tom
 
I know that tree! NE Portland, right? If it's the one I'm thinking of it's just a short walk from a silver maple on NE 33rd that has a burl bigger than the trunk which looks like an ear.
 
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I know that tree! NE Portland, right? If it's the one I'm thinking of it's just a short walk from a silver maple on NE 33rd that has a burl bigger than the trunk which looks like an ear.

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Yes, NE and pretty close to 33rd.
 
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Wow, why would a tree produce all that wood?

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Here's an interesting thought ...

The growth, even if burl, is consistent all the way around in that one part of the trunk.

If we shaved off a teeny bit of cambium there and grafted it to a small 1/2" stem, could we reliably propagate another or more of these unusual looking maples?

cool.gif
 
This happens to many of the bigleaf maples in Portland, the only explanation i have heard about it is a viral disease that causes this abnormal trunk flair. Although the only time i have ever seen the bigleafs with trunk flairs like that are planted in parking strips.
 
Damned if anyone really knows why this occurs.

I've heard virus, (un-named), fungus, (un-named), genetic abberation, the whole gamut.

Grafting a cambial section to a normal maple has been tried with little success.

Northwind
 
Let me know if you need it cut down. I'll drive down and do it for free if I can have the wood LOL. J/K of course but that burl is probably worth a million bucks.
 
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