It is hard not to marvel at the size of the bigleaf maple leaves. I often see children collecting these leaves around the arboretum. In one hand they are fanning and waving the leaf through the air while clutching a bunch of leaves in the other hand. For me, the leaves are humongous. To a child, they must be marvelously, monumentally mammoth!
So for the record and if anyone asked, I brought one home and measured it. As a side note, I broke the stem off the leaf of the first couple I collected. I also found it irresistible to wave them around through the air as I walked along the trail.
The width of the leaf was 16". The height of the leaf measured from the top to where it connects to the stalk was 11”. The leaf stalk was 12.5”.
