Sycamore

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Sycamore bark

Sycamore branch

Sycamore bark

Sycamore buds

Sycamore ripening flower head

Sycamore

Sycamore in winter

Sycamore

Sycamore in winter

Sycamore pistillate flowering head

Sycamore bud

Sycamore branches

Sycamore fruit

Sycamore bud

Sycamore

Sycamore leaf

Sycamore in winter

Morphology

Trunk

Straight and unbranched below or often dividing near ground into several secondary trunks; diameter 5 to 10 feet; crown broad, open, irregular; bark of young trees grayish-green and white-mottled; bark of mature trees pale reddish- or yellowish-brown, thin, with plate-like scales that separate and peel off, exposing greenish or whitish inner bark.

Twigs

Branches large, crooked, spreading; bark nearly white with thin greenish-brown sheets peeling off; twigs coarse, rigid, zigzag, enlarged at nodes; lateral buds conical, blunt, reddish-brown; leaf scar a narrow ring encircling the bud; bundle scars 5.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous, broadly egg-shaped or kidney-shaped, 2.5 to 8+ inches long and wide, thin, firm, palmately 3-5-veined, pubescent on veins below, glabrous when mature; light green above, paler beneath; 3-7-lobed or occasionally un-lobed; lobes broad, spaces between lobes shallow, rounded; basal lobes often smaller; margins coarsely-toothed to entire; stalks stout, 1 to 2.8 inches long; stiplues leaf-like.

Flowers

With the leaves; male and female flowers on same tree; borne in dense spherical heads; staminate heads greenish, .3 to .4 inch in diameter; stalks short, hairy; pistillate heads reddish, .4 to .5 inch in diameter; stalks long, slender; sepals 3-6, minute; petals 3-6, minute; stamens 3-6 (usually 4); styles long, red, incurved.

Fruit

October; achenes in spherical heads about 1 inch in diameter; persist through the winter; stalks slender, 3 to 6 inches long, drooping; achenes narrow, conical with wide end out, about .4 inch long, brown; tuft of brownish hairs around base, nearly equaling achene body.

Ecology

Habitat

Borders of streams and lakes, rich bottom ground, moist woods; occasionally limestone uplands; rich or rocky alluvial soils.

Distribution

East half of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans steeped the inner bark and took the tea for colds, coughs, dysentery, the measles, and tuberculosis. An infusion of sycamore and honey locust bark was used as a gargle to treat sore throats and an infusion of sycamore bark and roots was used to soak the feet for rheumatism..

Additional Notes