What kind of tree is this?

March 15, 2015 8:34 AM

What kind of tree is this?
posted by gocubbies to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Sycamore.
posted by stillmoving at 8:40 AM on March 15, 2015

sycamore. (I'd have to see the leaves to be 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure it's a sycamore.)
posted by geegollygosh at 8:40 AM on March 15, 2015

Looks like a sycamore or London plane tree (a sycamore hybrid). Based on the bark on the trunk, sycamore would be my guess, but they can be tough to tell apart. Plane trees tend to look like this all over, with bark exfoliation extending all the way to the ground. Where is it?
posted by pullayup at 8:41 AM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Specifically, American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis. It tends to have thicker scaly bark at the base and then smoother whitish bark on the higher trunk and branches.
posted by beagle at 8:49 AM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sycamores and planes tend to shed their bark every year because the bark is quite brittle and doesn't accommodate the growth of the tree. The only reliable way I know to tell the difference between P. occidentalis and its occidentalis x orientalis cousin is that the London Plane has its seedpods in pairs. Obviously, that's a seasonal thing. But yes, it's one of the two.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 11:05 AM on March 15, 2015