Sycamore Tree Facts

The sycamore is a readily recognizable tree because of its bark, which resembles camouflage. The sycamore possesses large leaves and makes a wonderful shade tree, typically growing on the banks of rivers and streams in the eastern half of the nation.

Identification

The sycamore's trademark is a scaly bark that peels away to reveal a mottled coloring beneath it of whites, tans and grays. From a distance, people can mistake a sycamore as being dead, thinking the wood is rotten and the bark has stripped away.

Geography

Sycamores occur from southern sections of New England south to just north of Florida. They range westward as far as the Great Lakes states and into eastern Texas.

Leaves

The leaves of the sycamore are immense and can be as wide as 15 inches. They have three lobes, are hairy underneath and on the stems, and they will fall off in the late autumn.

Uses

Sycamore wood has a course-grained texture and is hard enough for use in furniture, barrels and boxes. The entire sycamore trunk would serve as a dugout canoe of great size for some Native American tribes.

Seeds

The sycamore will have male flowers as well as female flowers, which will develop into a fruit that looks like a wooden ball. It breaks wide open in the fall and the small seeds scatter everywhere on the wind.

References

• Sycamore Tree Information
• A Guide to Field Identification--Trees of North America; C. Frank Brockman; 1986