American Sycamore

(Platanus occidentalis)

Family: Platanaceae

Phylum: Anthophyta

CSU TREE MAP ITEM #38

Distribution

Native to the eastern and central United States, extreme southern Ontario and the mountains of northeastern Mexico.

BBy U.S. Geological Survey - Digital representation of "Atlas of United States Trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr. [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12722837

Leaves

By MOHAMMED HAMZA - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29353174

Flowering

By Colsu [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Fruit

By Pierre-Joseph Redouté - http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1108793, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19034213

Questions

Using the bark descriptors given in the handout, describe the type of bark this tree has.

What might be the advantages and disadvantages of bark that peels/drops this much?