# Bigtooth Maple (Acer grandidentatum)

> Bigtooth maple, Acer grandidentatum: a small tree of 10 to 50 feet for zones 3 to 8, when it flowers and fruits, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/bigtooth-maple/

![A small bigtooth maple blazing orange and scarlet in fall against a pale, layered sandstone wall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/bigtooth-maple-1000.jpg?v=0d562d89 "A bigtooth maple in fall color in Orderville Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah, on October 5, 2012. Its national champion, in Arizona, is 62 feet tall.")
*Photo: Zion National Park, [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABigtooth_Maple_%288119749210%29.jpg) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABigtooth_Maple_%288119749210%29.jpg))*

Small tree, 10 to 50 feet, zones 3 to 8; full sun, part shade or shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow bigtooth maple, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Bigtooth Maple |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Western sugar maple, Rocky Mountain sugar maple, big-toothed maple, Uvalde bigtooth maple, southwestern bigtooth maple, Sabinal maple, western mountain sugar maple, Acer saccharum subsp. grandidentatum |
| Form | Small tree |
| Height, feet | 10 to 50 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 35 |
| Zones | 3 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Fall color, wildlife value, street tree, erosion control |
| Flowers | March to July |
| Fruit | Samaras, August to November |
| Pollination | Separate male and female trees. Some bigtooth maples carry only male flowers, while others carry female flowers or both, so plant several if you want seed. |
| Lifespan | The oldest tree dated by its rings was at least 168 years. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been aged, and one New Mexico inventory tree was counted at 250 years in 1999, against 180 for the next oldest. |
| Planting season | Fall or spring. FEIS advises moving young trees in early spring while they are dormant, and Utah State University Extension digs dormant trees in fall or early spring. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Stream banks, rich moist slopes, the forest understory and dry uplands |
| Native in | 9 states |

Bigtooth maple is native in 9 states: [Arizona](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AZ), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from the Fire Effects Information System, the Wildflower Center and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=bigtooth-maple): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=bigtooth-maple:5): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Chalk Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chalk-maple/index.html.md) (*Acer leucoderme*): small tree, 25 to 30 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares stream banks, rich moist slopes and the forest understory in the wild.
- [Eve's Necklace](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eve-necklace/index.html.md) (*Styphnolobium affine*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 7 to 9. Shares stream banks, the forest understory and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Sweetleaf](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweetleaf/index.html.md) (*Symplocos tinctoria*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 7 to 9. Shares stream banks, rich moist slopes and the forest understory in the wild.
- [Red Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-buckeye/index.html.md) (*Aesculus pavia*): small tree, 10 to 25 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares stream banks, rich moist slopes and the forest understory in the wild.
- [Pear Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pear-hawthorn/index.html.md) (*Crataegus calpodendron*): small tree, 7 to 23 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares stream banks, rich moist slopes and the forest understory in the wild.
- [White Fringetree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/white-fringetree/index.html.md) (*Chionanthus virginicus*): small tree, 12 to 20 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, rich moist slopes and the forest understory in the wild.
- [Every companion of bigtooth maple in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=bigtooth-maple)

## Read from

Its figures come from the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the USDA PLANTS Database, UF/IFAS Extension, Utah State University Extension, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech's dendrology site, the Wildflower Center and the US Forest Service.