Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Proteales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis
FAMILY
Platanaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read about Platanus (Platanaceae) and Proteaceae from Alan Weakley and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more about Platanus from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
The fossil record of Sycamore is 10s of millions of years older than the maples, elms, oaks, and ashes that it associates with in our eastern forests. Read more at Tree Talk, from University of Kentucky and Lexington community "tree-people".
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Platanus occidentalis
FAMILY
Platanaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America
Platanus occidentalis
SYNONYMOUS WITH Revision of the Mexican and Guatemalan species of Platanus (Platanaceae) (Nixon & Poole, 2003)
Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 096-01-001:
Platanus occidentalis FAMILY Platanaceae
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis
INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Platanus occidentalis
COMMON NAME:
American Sycamore, Planetree
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux dcp34_p38
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JK Marlow jkm191222_2370_p_occident
Clay County AL
Cheaha State Park
)
Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_404
)
Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_405
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_ploc_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service pnd_ploc_003_lvd
)
Alan S. Weakley asw_3396984000516934
January
Lateral buds conical, 1-scaled, nearly encircled by leaf scars, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm0401e_37
January Greenville County SC
Roadside
)
JK Marlow jkm0302c_23
February Greenville County SC
Fruit a pendant, globular head of achenes, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).
)
JK Marlow jkm0302c_24
February Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm0502b_06
February Greenville County SC
Upper stems smooth & white, lower trunk brown & scaly or furrowed, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).
)
JK Marlow jkm130225_319
February Cherokee County NC
Murphy River Walk
The most massive trees in eastern US, they can be over 100' tall & 10' wide, per Teaching the Trees (Maloof, 2007).
)
JK Marlow s050316_l
March Rutherford County NC
Chimney Rock Park
Leaf scars alternate; terminal bud lacking; stipule scars ringlike; buds 1-scaled.
)
JK Marlow jkm160423_451
April Sevier County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
)
Keith Bradley kab_p_occidentalis_5307
April Caldwell County NC
Pisgah National Forest
Pistillate heads rusty to dark red, staminate heads yellowish-green, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_occidentalis_3
April
)
JK Marlow jkm0306g_17
June Greenville County SC
Leaves palmately veined, with 3-5 coarsely toothed lobes, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
JK Marlow jkm0306h_29
June Greenville County SC
Prominent, leaf-like stipules encircle the twig, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_occidentalis_4
July
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_occidentalis_6
August
One of the largest trees in eastern North America, per Weakley's Flora (2020).
)
JK Marlow jkm061104_049
November Swain County NC
Cherokee Indian Reservation
The exposed white inner bark of mid & upper trunk recognizable at a distance, per Weakley's Flora.
)
Keith Bradley kab_p_occidentalis_3322
December Chester County SC
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_occidentalis_1
December Fulton County GA
Chattahoochee Nature Center
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_occidentalis_5
Month Unknown
One fruiting head per peduncle, per Weakley's Flora (2012).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis
FAMILY
Platanaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Platanus occidentalis
FAMILY
Platanaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America
Platanus occidentalis
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Revision of the Mexican and Guatemalan species of Platanus (Platanaceae) (Nixon & Poole, 2003)
Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 096-01-001:
Platanus occidentalis
FAMILY
Platanaceae
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Platanus occidentalis
1103
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Riverbanks and alluvial forests, streambanks, sometimes weedy on rocky roadcuts, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Pistillate heads dark red, staminate heads yellowish-green
3-6 sepals in staminate flowers, 3-4 sepals in pistillate flowers
Petals absent in pistillate flowers, nearly obsolete in staminate flowers
Unisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Tawny
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p304
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p304
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p459
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p376
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p182
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p280
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p109
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p109
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p25
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p253
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p243
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