Platanus occidentalis
Photo by me. Near GC1H4Q7 Holiday Fun.
See the white bark on two of the trees in the photo? They are sycamore trees. One is squatty and short and the other is tall -- different shapes, but they are the same.
My family is pretty familiar with this tree. My uncle next door had one in his yard, and our current neighbor across the street has one. We also have watched many a ball game in the shade of a sycamore.
The very large leaves and "balls" are fun for kids to play with.
The bark on the lower trunk is flaky and smooth. I was excited to recognize them -- something familiar!-- in Sequoia National Forest. I recently read on a listserve that Iowa has very few old sycamore trees. Web searches are yielding no information on a "sycamore plague," but I have requested archives. I think it will be interesting enough to post here.
Places to visit with sycamore information:
No comments:
Post a Comment