Platanus occidentalis

Platanus occidentalis, also known as American sycamore or American planetree, is a species of Platanus native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeastern Mexico, extreme southern Ontario, and extreme southern Quebec. It is usually called sycamore in North America, a name which can refer to other types of trees in other parts of the world; in the United Kingdom, for example, the name sycamore typically refers to Acer pseudoplatanus. The American sycamore is a long-lived species, typically surviving at least 200 years and likely as long as 500–600 years. It is capable of becoming a massive tree, with a wide girth and heights reaching up to 24 m (80 ft) or more.

The species epithet occidentalis is Latin for "western", referring to the Western Hemisphere, because at the time when it was named by Carl Linnaeus, the only other species in the genus was P. orientalis ("eastern"), native to the Eastern Hemisphere. Confusingly, in the United States, this species was first known in the Eastern United States, thus it is sometimes called eastern sycamore, to distinguish it from Platanus racemosa, which was discovered later in the Western United States and called western sycamore.

The American sycamore is rather drought tolerant and flood tolerant. It can be found in a variety of habitats, but it prefers wetlands and riparian environments.

Description

Platanus occidentalis can often be easily distinguished from other trees by its mottled bark that flakes off in large, irregular masses, leaving the surface mottled and gray, greenish-white, and brown. The bark of all trees has to yield to a growing trunk by stretching, splitting, or infilling, but sycamore bark is more rigid and less elastic than the bark of other trees, so to accommodate the growth of the wood underneath, the tree sheds it in large, brittle pieces.