About

Acer pseudoplatanus, known as the sycamore in the British Isles and as the sycamore maple in the United States, is a species of maple native to Central Europe and Western Asia. It is a large deciduous, broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind and coastal exposure.

The sycamore can grow to a height of about 35 metres (115 feet) and the branches form a broad, rounded crown. The bark is grey, smooth when young and later flaking in irregular patches. The leaves grow on long leafstalks and are large and palmate, with five large radiating lobes. The flowers are greenish-yellow and hang in dangling flowerheads called panicles. They produce copious amounts of pollen and nectar that are attractive to insects. The winged seeds or samaras are borne in pairs and twirl to the ground when ripe. They germinate freely in the following spring.

How to grow it

Sycamore self-seeds very vigorously, the seeds germinating en masse in the spring so that there is little, or no, seed bank in the soil. It is readily propagated from seed in cultivation, but varieties cannot be relied on to breed true. Special cultivars such as A. pseudoplatanus 'Brilliantissimum' may be propagated by grafting. This variety is notable for the bright salmon-pink colour of the young foliage and is the only sycamore cultivar to have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. A rare weeping form with dangling branches, A. pseudoplatanus var. pendulum, was first sold by Knight & Perry's exotic nursery in Chelsea, England, before 1850 when the name was published by W. H. Baxter in the Supplement to Loudon's Hortus Brittanicus, but no specimens of this cultivar are known to survive.

The sycamore is noted for its tolerance of wind, urban pollution, salt spray, and low summer temperatures, which makes it a popular tree for planting in cities, along roads treated with salt in winter, and in coastal localities.

Safety

Horses eating seeds or emergent seedlings of A. pseudoplatanus can suffer from an often fatal condition of atypical myopathy.

Where it grows

The sycamore is native to central and eastern Europe and western Asia. Its natural range includes Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, southern Russia, Spain, Switzerland, East Thrace and the former Yugoslavia. Reports of it occurring in eastern Turkey have been found to refer to A. heldreichii subsp. trautvetteri. It was probably introduced into Britain in the Tudor period by 1500 and was first recorded in the wild in 1632 in Kent. The date of its first introduction into Ireland is unclear, but the oldest specimen in Ireland is in County Cavan and dates from the 17th century. It was introduced into Sweden around 1770 with seeds obtained from Holland.

Uses

Sycamore is planted in parks for ornamental purposes, and sometimes as a street tree, for its tolerance of air pollution makes it suitable for use in urban plantings. Owing to its tolerance to wind, it has often been planted in coastal and exposed areas as a windbreak.

Other Acer plants

Field Maple · Kyushu Maple · Cappadocian maple · Vine maple · Père David's maple · Horned maple · Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala · Paperbark maple · Fullmoon Maple · Lobel's Maple · Bigleaf Maple · Montpellier Maple