Types of maple trees in the Pacific Northwest and how to tell them apart

Types of maple trees native to Washington and Oregon

Oregon State University’s list of Oregon’s native and naturalized woody plants includes three maples: bigleaf, vine and Rocky Mountain maple. The USDA plant records in the Forest Service’s FIA reference tables list all three as native and place each in both Washington and Oregon. Those records list Douglas maple (Acer glabrum var. douglasii), a variety of Rocky Mountain maple, in both states, and a second variety, Torrey maple, in Oregon.

Source: USDA plant records in the USDA Forest Service FIADB reference tables (nativity for the lower 48 states and state distribution); native ranges from Oregon State University Landscape Plants. Checked 2026-10-02. Paperbark maple (native to central China) does not appear in the records.

The state columns show where each species has been recorded, native or not; they don’t count planted street trees. Norway maple is an introduced tree recorded in both states, and red, silver and sugar maple are native to North America but not to the Northwest.

Planted maples on Northwest streets and in yards

Maples are among the most common street trees in the region. Portland’s Urban Forestry program says maples make up about 24 percent of the city’s street trees, and because so many trees share the same pests and diseases, it no longer approves maples for planting in the city right-of-way. When the Forest Service built its Urban Tree Database, it sampled about 20 of the most abundant street and park species in a Pacific Northwest reference city; four were maples: bigleaf, Norway, red and sugar.

• Japanese maple: siting, summer water and pests are covered in Japanese maple care in the Pacific Northwest.
• Norway maple: OSU notes it is easy to transplant, adapts to sand, clay, acid or alkaline soil, and handles hot, dry conditions better than sugar maple.
• Red maple: one of the first trees to color in fall, according to OSU.
• Sugar maple: yellow, burnt-orange and red fall color, but OSU says it does not perform well in compacted or restricted sites.
• Silver maple: grows fast but, in OSU’s words, “falls apart” when older.
• Paperbark maple: copper-red bark that peels in papery sheets, which OSU calls very attractive.
• Sycamore maple: salt tolerant and good near the shore, according to OSU, and the main host of sooty bark disease.

How to tell maple trees apart: leaves and bark

All maples have leaves in opposite pairs, usually palmately lobed like a hand, and winged seeds that usually grow in joined pairs, according to OSU. Within that pattern, the number and depth of the lobes and the size of the leaf separate most species.

Sources: Oregon State University Landscape Plants entries for bigleaf, vine, Rocky Mountain, Japanese, Norway, red, sugar, silver, paperbark and sycamore maple (sizes converted from centimeters); vine maple bark from the USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System; Norway maple bark from the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board. Checked 2026-10-02.

Bark of maple trees

Bark is the fastest winter check. Paperbark maple is unmistakable with its peeling copper-red sheets, and sycamore maple flakes in small rectangular scales. Silver maple goes from smooth gray to shaggy, while red maple turns dark gray and furrowed and sugar maple breaks into long, thick plates. Norway maple stays dark gray without scales. Bigleaf maple bark holds moisture and, in the Northwest, is often covered with mosses, liverworts and ferns, according to OSU.

Tip: Snap off a leaf stalk. OSU’s descriptions note milky sap from the leaf stalk of both Norway maple and bigleaf maple, a quick check when the leaf shape alone leaves you unsure.

How tall each type of maple tree gets

Size is where the types split most sharply. The native vine maple usually stays under 20 feet, while planted silver maples reach 80 to 100.

Width matters as much as height in a yard. The Forest Service’s Urban Tree Risk Management guide lists mature crown spreads of 40–60 feet for red maple, 60–80 feet for sugar maple and 75–100 feet for silver maple.

Which maple has the hardest wood?

In the Forest Service’s FIA species reference data, sugar maple has the densest wood of the six maples shown and bigleaf and silver maple the lightest; Douglas fir, at 0.45, is included for comparison. Denser wood is heavier per cord; see how much a cord of wood weighs.

Which maples are invasive in Washington and Oregon?

The Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board’s page for the species gives 2026 as the year it was listed, and lists its reasons: Norway maple affects forests by greatly reducing understory diversity, its wide use as a street tree gives it many ways into natural areas, and it hosts sooty bark disease and invasive longhorn beetles. OSU adds that most Norway maple selections produce large quantities of seed that can sprout quickly and crowd out native species, a problem it notes in northeastern U.S. woodlands. Class C is the state’s category for weeds that are already widespread; it lets a county enforce control where that helps, while other counties offer education instead. King County lists Norway maple as a non-regulated noxious weed: property owners are not required to control it, but control is recommended where feasible.

Oregon’s 2025 state noxious weed list from the Oregon Department of Agriculture includes no maples. Portland does regulate planting: its Nuisance Tree List includes both Norway maple and sycamore maple, which means they cannot be planted as street trees or in city-required landscaping, and cannot be planted at all in the Environmental, Greenway and Pleasant Valley Natural Resources overlay zones. OSU notes that sycamore maple is considered invasive in parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and New England. As the Forest Service’s i-Tree documentation puts it, invasiveness depends on state lists, and classifications vary from state to state.

In King County, at least, owners are not required to remove a Norway maple, though Class C status lets other Washington counties decide differently. If you are choosing a maple to plant, start with the natives.

Black spots on maple leaves and other common problems

Raised, glossy black spots on maple leaves are usually tar spot, a fungal disease. The Pacific Northwest Plant Disease Management Handbook says it is common on bigleaf maple on the Pacific Coast and also attacks silver maple, among others. It starts as tiny water-soaked spots about 1 mm across that turn brown; black, tar-like spots then form on the upper surface, the underside yellows beneath each spot, and heavily infected leaves may drop early.

WSU Extension’s Hortsense says tar spot, though conspicuous, does relatively little harm. The fix is sanitation: rake up and destroy fallen leaves, space and prune plantings for air circulation, and don’t plant susceptible maples in moist, sheltered spots.

• Black film that wipes off: sooty mold growing on the sticky honeydew that aphids produce. WSU’s Hortsense notes heavy aphid infestations can also cause leaf loss, especially on silver and Norway maples. The same honeydew is what spots cars; see how to get tree sap off a car.
• Bigleaf maple dieback: a decline that emerged in 2010 and is now widespread in western Washington and Oregon, with dying branches, clumps of shrunken leaves and heavy seed crops. The handbook calls the cause unknown; decline is associated with sites near roads and development and with rising summer temperatures, and a leafhopper, worsened by water stress, may be heavily involved. The advice is minimal care with infrequent deep watering in summer.
• Black patches on the trunk: bark that cracks or peels away to expose dark, sooty spore masses is the sign of sooty bark disease, found mainly on sycamore maple but also on Norway, red, Japanese, vine and bigleaf maple.

Safety: Sooty bark disease spores can, rarely, cause a severe lung reaction in susceptible people, so the handbook tells arborists and woodworkers to wear protective equipment. It also says infected wood should not be moved or saved as firewood, and infected trees should be covered when hauled away. Leave the removal to a crew that knows the disease.

Maples for small yards, and the ones that lift sidewalks

Sizes and root notes are from OSU’s species entries and the Forest Service’s risk-management guide. If a big maple is already close to the house, the site’s guide to tree root damage to your property covers foundations, pipes and paving.

Structure is the other issue with big maples. The Forest Service’s Urban Tree Risk Management guide says red and sugar maples commonly form co-dominant stems with included bark, and that wounds from a tree’s youth become cracks as it ages; it notes that silver maple wood tends to fracture and that silver maples over 15 inches in trunk diameter shed branches. A split or a tight V-shaped fork over a roof is worth a look before winter storms; see tree risk assessment.