American Sycamore

Dec 6

Written By Wheeler Wildlife Refuge Association

Platanus occidentalis (American Sycamore, Sycamore, Buttonwood, Buttonball Tree)

One of our most massive native trees, easily reaching 100 to 175’, with trunk diameters commonly at 3’ to 8’ - some individuals reaching up to 16’! Perhaps most readily distinguished in the landscape by its frequent occurrence in low-lying areas, and by its bark, which peels off (exfoliates) in irregular brown flakes to expose younger bark of pale yellow/white/sometimes green, a characteristic easily identified from great distances. A very fast-growing tree, long-lived (many/can reach 350 years of age), with heavy, coarse-grained, hard wood. Many butcher’s blocks are made of this.

Each individual tree bears both male and female flowers (the term is monoecious, pronounced something like “măh knee shus”) which produce a spherical fruit – a 1” diameter ball which is a tightly packed aggregation of individual, slender seed structures attached at their narrow end, and that radiate out from, the inner part of the ball (the third photo below). Most often there is a single fruit per stalk, occasionally there are two. These hang on the tree for most of the winter until the weary stalks finally break, or until the seeds are ripe enough to easily release, falling, floating and ideally landing in exactly the right conditions that allow them to begin their ultimate mission in Life.

Its sap is sweet and can be tapped and reduced into sugary syrup, just as commonly done with maple trees. Some who follow the New York Stock Exchange might know the term the “Buttonwood Agreement”. This agreement that officially formed the exchange was signed under a Buttonwood tree that grew at 68 Wall Street in NY city in 1792.