Michigan Trees: A Handbook of the Native and Most Important Introduced Species

by Charles Herbert Otis

6. Staminate flower, enlarged.

7. Pistillate flower, enlarged.

8. Fruit, × 3/8.

9. Achene, enlarged.

PLATANACEAE

Sycamore. Button-wood. Buttonball-tree

Platanus occidentalis L.

HABIT.—A large tree 70-100 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 3-8 feet; commonly dividing near the ground into several large secondary trunks, forming a broad, open, irregular crown of massive, spreading branches.

LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 5-10 inches long and broad; broadly ovate in outline; more or less 3-5-lobed by broad, shallow sinuses, the lobes sinuate-toothed; thin and firm; bright green above, paler beneath, glabrous both sides; petioles stout, puberulous, 1-2 inches long.