Sycamore

Sycamore (USDA Forest Service)
Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is a common tree and one of the largest in the eastern deciduous forests. It is a fast-growing and long-lived tree of lowlands and old fields. Sycamore is valuable for timber and is also widely planted as a shade tree because of its distinctive white, exfoliating bark and broad, dense crown. Recently, it has become a favored species for use in intensively cultured “biomass farms” in the Southeastern United States.

Platanus occidentalis (N.C. State Extension)
American sycamore is a large deciduous tree that may grow 75 to 100 feet tall, is equally as wide, and has a trunk diameter of 10 feet or more. It is one of the largest hardwood trees, by diameter, in North America.

American Sycamore (Virginia Tech Dendrology)
Learn to identify this tree by its leaf, flower, fruit, twig, bark and form.

American Sycamore (iNaturalist)
Platanus occidentalis can often be easily distinguished from other trees by its mottled bark which flakes off in large irregular masses, leaving the surface mottled and gray, greenish-white and brown.

Platanus occidentalis (Native Plant Trust)
American sycamore is vast and stately at maturity, with uniquely shaped leaves and peeling, plated bark that can easily be considered its most striking ornamental characteristic.