This is a hybrid between the American Sycamore of eastern North America and the Oriental Planetree from southeast Europe and western Asia...Read More, first discovered in London, England in 1663. It is much more planted in Europe than the USA, but is occasionally found in the latter. I find that the leaves are smaller than the American species, usually about 6" wide and so it is less course with foliage. It is less affected by anthracnose fungus disease than the American, but cankerstain disease can be serious.
A majestic shade tree, one of the few that tolerate city conditions. A fast grower that can become huge, to 100' or more. A great shade t...Read Moreree where there's room for the massive trunk, and a wonderful tree for formal allees/avenues. Highly sculptural in winter, and a tree whose distinctively ornamental bark lives up to the hype. Tolerates pollarding well.
I see no fall color here in New England, and the flowers are inconspicuous.
Not a tree for the small garden. Few other plants survive in its shade, due to its thirsty roots. Where happy, the trunk quickly grows too massive for the puny planting pits usually provided for street trees.
Tolerates salt, drought, compacted soil, pollution, and poor drainage.
To distinguish this hybrid from its parents: It produces its seedballs in pairs. Platanus occidentalis produces single seedballs, P. orientalis produces them in clusters of 3-6.
This hybrid is said to be more tolerant of anthracnose than its parent species. However, I frequently see these trees defoliated by anthracnose in early summer, and I often see the disfiguring witches broom that anthracnose infection often produces.
I am not certain of the precise cultivar that is planted in my area but it is used everywhere! I see it in the middle of parking lots, Pa...Read Morerking strips, islands in the middle of streets, parks and schools.Tolerates wind and heat well and it's a fast grower for those who want shade quickly. It is sometimes prone to powdery mildew but this does not seem to harm the tree. When the yukky mildewy leaves drop, they are replaced by nice looking ones. It's a very handsome tree. Outside a business a couple miles away are two that have attained huge size. They're planted in islands in the parking lot. They have not heaved the pavement.
I am surprised that such a well behaved tree is not planted more in yards. It was my pick to replace the old sick mulberry at the front of my house. I ended up planting two and they are growing like mad. In one year one of them got large enough to provide morning shade for my picnic table. In a few short years I will have some big shade.
Oklahoma City, OK (Zone 7a) | December 2004 | neutral
This species is resistant to Anthracnose. It is tolerant of most soil conditions except for dry soil and/or dry winds. It makes a great...Read More shade tree. Grows quickly and is very large when mature. Fruits can be somewhat messy, but are also showy.
This is a truly remarkable tree, not only for the reasons above, but also for its great beauty of bark and foliage. In my experience it w...Read Moreill stand droughl, growing perfectly well across parts of Europe, such as SW France, that experience little rain in the summer months.
As with many trees popular for lining streets and roads, it is often pollarded. When this is done correctly the tree does not suffer, indeed pollards and coppices are capable of a longer life than a naturally grown tree.
The flowers take the form of catkins, the males being yellowish and the females crimson.and rounded.
The leaves do not appear til mid May, but are very beautiful and shaped rather like thiose of an acer - hence the botanical name. They vary greatly in size and shape depending on the clone. However most colour handsomely in the autumn to yellow and bronze tones.
The round fruit hangs on the tree all winter and open in the spring to scatter their seed
This is the city tree to beat all others. At one time, before the Clean Air Acts, when London used to vanish for days on end into a dirty...Read More, acid smog it is believed over 90% of London's trees were London planes. They will take any amount of pollution and still produce a large canopy and a handsome bark without the relentless assault on pavements and pipes some of their relations make.They will also take the brutal pruning city trees get for wires etc.
If you are prone to despair over the environment then it is worth remembering that the will to act is all it needs. The diversity of trees these days in London is evidence enough. It is less than 50years since Governments accepted they had clean up London's air. The shame was it took thousands of deaths in Britains worse peace time disaster of the Great Smog to change things. But the avenues of London planes are an elegant monument to an environmental disaster.
This is a hybrid between the American Sycamore of eastern North America and the Oriental Planetree from southeast Europe and western Asia...Read More
A majestic shade tree, one of the few that tolerate city conditions. A fast grower that can become huge, to 100' or more. A great shade t...Read More
I am not certain of the precise cultivar that is planted in my area but it is used everywhere! I see it in the middle of parking lots, Pa...Read More
This species is resistant to Anthracnose. It is tolerant of most soil conditions except for dry soil and/or dry winds. It makes a great...Read More
This is a truly remarkable tree, not only for the reasons above, but also for its great beauty of bark and foliage. In my experience it w...Read More
This is the city tree to beat all others. At one time, before the Clean Air Acts, when London used to vanish for days on end into a dirty...Read More