126 THE TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



are so well known, that they will need no particular 

 description. 



Sycamore. (Platanus occidentalis, Linn.) — This 

 is the name generally given, I believe, to this tree in 

 North Carolina ; but it is more extensively known in 

 the United States as Buttonivood. In some sections 

 it is called Water Beech and Plane Tree. The last 

 would be most appropriate, if we were governed in 

 our choice by the application of the names of kindred 

 species in Europe. The Sycamore of Europe is a 

 species of Maple, having no relationship with #hat 

 we call by that name. 



This tree, like the Planes of the old Continent so 

 much celebrated by the ancients, is among the largest 

 in the Temperate Zones. It is common over the 

 United States on the borders of streams, where the 

 soil is moist and fertile, conspicuous for its white 

 bark and the stately size of its trunk. In such situ- 

 ations it is found throughout the State, but is least 

 abundant in the Lower District. Although occa- 

 sionally found here of large dimensions, it is not of 

 such size as in the virgin forests of the West, where 

 this tree has its peculiar home, and where it is some- 

 times seen without branches to the height of 60 to 

 70 feet, and with a circumference of 40 to 50 feet. 

 A hollow section of a l^unk was once used in Ohio 

 as a bar-room ; — the same, I believe, now exhibited 

 in a New York Museum. This reminds us of the 

 famous Plane tree of Lycia, mentioned by Pliny, 

 whose hollow trunk gave shelter for a night to Licin- 



