Big-Leaf Maple vs Common Oak

Acer macrophyllum compared with Quercus robur

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Big-Leaf Maple	Common Oak
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class same	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Sapindales (Sapindales)	Fagales (Beeches & Oaks)
Family	Sapindaceae	Fagaceae (Beech Family)
Genus	Acer	Quercus (Oaks)
Species	Acer macrophyllum	Quercus robur

Evolutionary Relationship

Big-Leaf Maple and Common Oak share a common ancestor at the Class level: Magnoliopsida. (Dicots)

Conservation Status

Big-Leaf Maple

LC — Least Concern

Common Oak

LC — Least Concern

Trend: Stable →

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Big-Leaf Maple	Common Oak
Diet	—	Autotroph
Average Lifespan	—	1000 years
Average Length	—	25.0 m
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Big-Leaf Maple

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Canada, Ireland, and United States.

Common Oak

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Lesotho, South Africa), Asia (Armenia, India), Europe (8 countries), North America (Canada, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand), and South America (4 countries).

Big-Leaf Maple

The Big-Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) is a species in the genus Acer. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Common Oak

One of Europe's most important and widespread deciduous trees, the pedunculate oak can live over 1,000 years, reach 40 meters, and support the greatest biodiversity of any European tree species — over 2,300 species of insects, fungi, lichens, mosses, and birds directly depend on mature oaks. Found across Europe to western Asia in temperate forests, its hard, durable wood has been foundational to shipbuilding, architecture, and barrel making throughout history.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 3 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇨🇦 Canada 🇺🇸 United States