482 XEW ENGLAND TREES IN "\YINTER. 



SYCAMORE 

 Buttonwood, Buttonball, Plane Tree. 



Platanus occidentalis L. 



HAUIT — A large tree 50-100 ft. in heig-ht with a trunk diameter of 

 3-S ft., in the bottom lands of the lower uhio and Mississippi valleys 

 reaching- occasionally a height of 170 ft. with a trunk diameter of 

 10-11 ft., the larg-est tree of the New Eng-land forest; with an erect 

 or often declined trunk very gradually tapering- and continuous into 

 the top (see habit picture) or branched near the base into two or 

 three secondary trunks (see bark picture) forming- an open, irreg-ular 

 or rounded "unde-sp reading head: branch lets scrag-g-ly, often in tufts 

 with dead twig-s not infrequent. (See low cross-branch in bark picture). 



BARK — Dark brown, at the base of older trunks shallowly furrowed 

 into broad ridg-es which are broken into small oblong- thick plate-like 

 scales; hig-her up on the trunk peeling- off in larg-e thin plates, exposing- 

 conspicuous areas of the whitish, yellowish or greenish inner bark. 



TAVIGS — Slender, rather shiny, smooth, yellowish-brown, g-enerally 



zig-zag-, swollen at the nodes, rounded or with decurrent ridg-es from 



the bund le- sea rs ; medularv rays conspicuous in sectioned twigf. 



LENTICELS — pale, minute. PITH — thick. 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate, generally 2-ranked, sometimes appearing- 

 more ranked; narro'w, projecting', nearly surrounding" the bud. more or 

 less swollen at the bundle-scars. STIPULE-SCARS — encircling- twig-. 

 BUNDLE-SCARS — -conspicuous, dark, generally raised, 5-10 or more in 

 sing-le curved line. 



BlfDS — Terminal bud absent; lateral buds larg-e, conical, 5-10 mm. 

 long-, blunt-pointed, smooth, shiny, dark reddish-brown, diverg'ent. 

 BUD-SCALES — a single scale visible, forming a cap to the bud, second 

 scale green, gumm3^ innermost scale covered with long rusty hairs. 



FRI'IT — Spherical heads 2.5-4 cm. in diameter, on long stalks mostly 

 solitary or seldom in 2's composed of small hairy 1-seeded nutlets. 

 The heads hang on the tree till spring, 



COMPARISONS — The native Sycamore [Platanus occidentalis'] is closely 

 related to the Oriental Sycamore [Platanufs orientalis L.] which is 

 extensively planted as an ornamental tree. It bears its fruiting heads 

 singly or rarely in 2's, while the Oriental Sycamore has its fruiting 

 heads in clusters of 2-4. The whitewashed appearance of the upper 

 limbs, the single cap-like scale of its bud. which is nearly surrounded 

 by the leaf-scar, present characters which prevent tlie Sycamores from 

 being confused \vith any other trees. 



DISTRIBUTIOX — Near streams, river bottoms, and low, damp woods; 

 sometimes in dryer places. Ontario; south to Florida; west to Min- 

 nesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — apparently restricted to York county; 

 New Hampshire — Merrimac valley towards the coast; along the Con- 

 necticut as far as Walpole; Vermont — scattering along the river shores, 

 quite abundant along the Hoosac in Pownal; Massachusetts — occa- 

 sional; Rhode Island — rather common. 



IN CONNECTICUT— Frequent. 



AVOOD — Reddish -brown with light somewhat yellowish sap wood, 

 heavy, tough, hard, not very strong, coarse-grained, difficult to split and 

 work; is used in manufacture of tobacco boxes, crates, butciiers' blocks, 

 ox-yokes and when cut quartering Is used for Inside finishing of 

 buildings and for furniture. 



