An individual instance of Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Image of organism
Permanent unique identifier for this particular organism:

http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbilt/12-90


Notes:


You can find this tree just east of 21st Ave. S. on the north side of where the Peabody drive exits onto 21st.

Sycamore is a tree that is easy to recognize.  Although its leaves are similar to maple leaves, they are arranged alternately on the twig, rather than opposite as are maples.  The bark of sycamore is one of the most distinctive features of the species.  As the trees age, bark begins to peel off in irregularly shaped chunks.  This gives the tree a "camouflage" look with the different-aged exposed layers having different shades of green and brown.  On young trees and branches, the predominance of whitish bark makes the species stand out, especially in the winter time when leaves are absent.

The fruit of sycamore is also unique.  The fruit is a hanging ball.  As it matures and dries, hairs attached to the seeds behave as a parachute when the seeds come loose from the ball.

Sycamore is a very common native tree that is usually found along streams and rivers.  On Vanderbilt campus, it is easy to confuse the few sycamore trees with the numerous, non-native London plane trees that have been planted and which look quite similar to sycamore.


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Use this stable URL to link to this page:
http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbilt/12-90.htm


This organism is a living specimen that is part of the  Vanderbilt University Arboretum  with the local identifier 1-13.


This particular organism is believed to have managedmeans of establishment.

This organismal entity has the scope: multicellular organism.

Remarks:No longer extant in 2024.


Identifications:


Platanus occidentalis

L.

sec. fna.org 1993

common name: American sycamore
family: Platanaceae
Identified 2002-05-21 by Steven J. Baskauf


Location:


Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, US
Click on these geocoordinates to load a map showing the location: 36.14285°, -86.79984°
Coordinate uncertainty about: 10 m.

Location of individual determined from GIS database.



Occurrences were recorded for this particular organism on the following dates:
2002-05-21
2003-04-03
2014-09-11

The following images document this particular organism.
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ImageView
whole tree (or vine) - general
leaf - whole upper surface
inflorescence - whole - unspecified
inflorescence - whole - female
inflorescence - whole - female
inflorescence - lateral view of flower

fna.org 1993 =

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds., 1993. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Flora of North America Association, New York, NY, US and Oxford, UK.


Metadata last modified: 2024-04-26T16:24:21.644-05:00
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