What is the difference between London Plane and American Sycamore?

Answer 1

The short answer is not very much. The London Plane tree is a hybrid between the eurasian Plane tree Platanus Orientalisand the American Sycamore, Platanus Occidentalis. Both trees can be found in North America.

While the native American tree is referred to in North America as the American sycamore, in Britain it is known as the American plane. In the old world, 'sycamore' refers either to the sycamore-maple native to there, or the Sycamore Fig, Ficus Sycomorus. Sycamore, or Plane tree, then is used interchangably for three different genus. Confusion abounds, but is understandable because the leaves are similar.

Both the American Sycamore and the London Plane trees have mottled bark looking like camoflage, with the London Plane tree being usually more green, while the American Sycamore has more ghostly white. Both produce the characteristic 'button-balls' of seeds, with the American Sycamore having only one ball to a stalk, and the London Plane having two or three.

The scientific name for the sycamore maple is Acer Pseudoplatanus and this is because of its visual similarity to the plane tree. Pseudo, as in someone who is pretentious, means that it is like platanus which is the name for plane trees, and Acer is the scientific name which covers the whole maple family.

So, what are the similarities? The leaves are more or less of the same shape and the bark is flaky. The London plane and the American sycamore have like profiles, and are used to ornament towns.

Comparing either the London Plane or the American sycamore to the Sycamore Maple, the biggest difference comes in the fruits. The sycamore maple has the characteristic maple 'keys' or what is called double samaras (see identification section), while the platanus species has round spiky balls.

The sycamore maple comes from the maple family and like most maples, it is possible to extract a syrup from its sapwood. Don't expect it to be too tasty though: what we call maple syrup comes from primarily from the sugar maple, a tree distributed across central eastern North America.

The twigs of the sycamore maple are windy and curled. This makes it stand out in the winter, though in truth it takes some practice before you master this way of recognizing it, but it is certainly worth looking out for because the silhouette of the sycamore is very beautiful.

Dan Maddox - Landscape Technician, Windsor ON Canada; modified by Kevin Walters, Toronto