Platanus occidentalis

American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

The American sycamore or Western Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis ) is a species of the family of plane trees plants ( Platanaceae ). The species is native in eastern North America and can grow to 50 feet tall.

Description

The American plane tree is a deciduous tree, the growth heights of 35, some can reach over 50 meters. There are possible trunk diameter up to about 4 meters. The bark is scaly and gray - brown and whitish.

The stipules are entire, dentate to coarsely. The leaves are bright green and weinlaub -like, to 22 inches long and up to 25 inches wide; Stem elongation of water they can also be great to 30 × 40 inches. They are usually 3 - to 5 -lobed, partly to 7 -lobed, rarely unlobed. The individual lobes of the leaf blade are also mostly broader than long; the basal lobes are usually smaller and often strongly recurved. The terminal ( seated at the blade tip ) lobe is half to two-thirds as long as the entire leaf blade. The leaf edges are serrated to quite coarse. The teeth are partly awned short, the tab end usually pointed. The leaves are mostly hairless, occurs only on the underside of leaves along the leaf veins partially pubescence on.

It blooms in the spring. The female inflorescences have a diameter of 25-30 millimeters; the inflorescence axis is long and 15 centimeters. The fruits ripen in late autumn.

The chromosome number is 2n = 42

Dissemination

The American sycamore is native to eastern North America. It prefers fertile, moist locations. Frequently encountered is the tree on alluvial soils near water; next to it also occurs on plateaus and limestone soils. Your deposits are located at an altitude 0-950 m. The range extends from southern Ontario over approximately the eastern third of the United States to the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas.

Today, the tree is also planted to be found in gardens and parks as well as a street tree.

Use

Native Indians used the American sycamore versatile for various medical purposes. Indications were the treatment of colds and coughs, next to the tree also served for remedy for skin, respiratory, digestive and gynecological problems.

System

The nominate is with plant height to about 50 feet and trunk diameters of up to about 4 meters one of the largest deciduous tree species in North America. Kleinwüchsigere trees with a slightly different foliage ( leaf blade wider than long, lobes almost completely separated from each other ) are occidentalis var glabrata ( Fernald ) Sargent regarded as a variety Platanus; the distribution area of this variety is western, about from Iowa to Mexico and overlaps with the kind of Platanus rzedowskii Nixon & Peale in Tamaulipas.

In large parts of the range of the species sometimes get copies before, the leaf blades are deeper lobed, with long tapering wedge-shaped leaf base, were as a variety Platanus occidentalis var attenuata Sargent described.

Similar Species

The London plane (Platanus × hispanica) is a hybrid of Platanus occidentalis and the Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis). It has leaves whose lobes are often longer than wide; the bark is greener than the American sycamore.

Swell

  • Description in the Flora of North America ( English)
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