BYC tMORE OR BUTTONBALL TR] 



Platanus occidentalis /.. 



The Sycamore Familj 



PLAT w ICEAE 



Habit and Habitat: A large tree, reaching a height <»f I feet 



in our Btate, with a trunk diameter of LV6 to 3 feet. Sometimes the 

 trunk branches near the ground into Beveral secondary trunks. 'Flu* 



wn is usually broad and open, and often irregular and mass 

 with numerous, large and widely spreading branches. Prefers the 



deep, moist soil of river-bottoms and usually OCCUTS as widely scatte 

 individuals in a forest o\' elms, walnuts and lindens. 



Leaves and Buds: The leaves are alternate, simple, 



broad, very commonly broader than long, more or less deeply 3-5-lobed, 



bright green above, pale beneath, the under surface ,-ometie pe- 



nally when young, being covered with a scurfy or powdery substance, 

 the margins of the lob' arsely toothed or scalloped; petiole 



it, more or less hairy. 1-2 inches long. Terminal bud absent, lateral 

 buds alternate, usually broadly conical and blunt, about 'i inch long, 

 shiny, brown. Base of the petiole fits closely over the conical bud like 

 a cap so that the leaf scar is nearly circular. 



Flowers and Fruits: The flowers appear in May at the time the 

 leaves are about half grown or a little later, and they are borne in 

 dense globular clusters or heads. The staminate flower heads are 

 ('ark maroon or red, on short axillary stalks. The pistillate flower heads 

 are green and borne by long: slender peduncles from the tips of the tw: 

 The fruit is ripe in October or later and occurs in the form of long- 

 lunculate, yellowish-brown heads which are about 1 inch in diameter. 

 These fruit falls persist upon the trees for several months, often through 

 the winter and into the following summer. 



Bark. Twigs and Wood: The bark on the twigs is pale green and 

 more or less hairy when young, becoming smooth later, finally gray 

 or almost white, thick reddish-brown and scaly on the trunk, broken 

 into long plate-like scales higher up in the tree which peel off and 

 thereby expose the greenish or white younger bark beneath the scales. 

 The bark characteristics are usually so distinct as to identify this tt 

 The wood is light reddish-brown, heavy, tough, hard, coarse-grained, 

 difficult to split and work, beautiful on quart r sawed surfaces, not 

 •v durable. Used for interior trim and in the manufacture of tobacco 

 boxes, and butcher's blocks. 



Distribution in the State: Occurs naturally only in a narrow belt 



n"- the Missouri river from the southeastern corner of the state to 

 newhat north of Omaha. It seldom gets more than 15-26 miles 

 it of • odlands adjacent to the Missouri. The species is planted, 



however, in all parts of the Btate and it does well under cultivation. Map 



40. 



Remarks: The sycamore is one of our most beautiful and desir- 



ornamental native forest I ! row* very rapidly and is a 



firi' and in all seasons. Its whitish trunk and broadly 



ii pr- :ertain f< si in any other 



The sycamore i<= not bothered bv fungous d ind other so 



llv in Nebraska ;><= it is farther east. It should be planted more 

 freely as an ornamental. 



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