Sycamore No 1 – eIrishTrees

Sycamore 6620 - May - left side — Sycamore 6620 – May – left side

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus). The sycamore maple is a large deciduous tree that reaches 20–35 m (66–115 ft) tall at maturity, with a broad, domed crown. On young trees, the bark is smooth and grey but becomes rougher with age and breaks up in scales, exposing the pale-brown-to-pinkish inner bark. The leaves are opposite, palmately 5-lobed large, 10–25 cm long and broad with a 5–15 cm petiole, with leathery texture and thick veins protruding on the underside surface with toothed edges, and dark green in colour with whitish underside; some cultivars have purple-tinged or yellowish leaves. The leaf-stalk is frequently tinged red. The leaves are often marked with black spots or patches which are caused by the fungus Rhytisma acerinum. The monoecious yellow-green flowers are produced in spring on 10–20 cm pendulous racemes, with 20–50 flowers on each stalk. The 5–10 mm diameter seeds are paired in samaras, each seed with a 20–40 mm long wing to catch the wind and rotate when they fall; this helps them to spread further from the parent tree. The seeds are mature in autumn about 6 months after pollination. The sycamore is able to produce suckers from roots when they are exposed to sunlight after the mature tree has fallen. (Source: Wikipedia).