In a Bible story Zacchaeus, who was short, climbed up into a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus as he passed. This tree, which was common to roadsides in the Middle East, was known for its low and wide-spreading branches making it easy to climb and also for its production of sweet edible fruit clusters that are similar but inferior to the common fig. This “sycamore fig” tree bears so little resemblance to the sycamore of the Eastern and Central United States, Plantanus occidentalis, that it is classified in a totally different plant family (Moracea, not Plantanaceae). Though not the tree in the 
Bible story, the American sycamore has interesting features and lore of its own.
The most striking feature of the American sycamore tree is the mottled pattern of the bark. The moist, rich soil this tree prefers helps it grow exceedingly fast, often 100 feet in 20 years. The trunk can reach 10 feet in diameter, and can grow to 130 feet in height. The gray-brown bark is not elastic enough to accommodate the growth, so it sloughs off in patches revealing the light gray or white wood underneath. This exposure is most noticeable on upper trunks and limbs of older trees. These older trees are often hollow and the peeling bark may make them appear sick (this is possibly how the tree got its name), 
but these trees have been known to live over 300 years. Taking advantage of the smooth and hollow trunks, Indians used these trees to make dugout canoes- one recorded to be 65 feet long and weighing 4 ½ tons.
Sycamore trees have the largest leaves of any tree native to North America. Leaves are deciduous (are shed in fall), are 4-9 inches long and palmate (shaped like a hand). There are 3 or 5 lobes which especially on older leaves may be as wide as they are long. Edges of leaves are wavy, with teeth. The tops of leaves are bright green and smooth and the the undersides of leaves are pale green and fibrous. The leaves alternate hanging from long leaf stalks, or petioles. Fibers from the leaves, stems and 
fruit shed in late spring, and are irritants to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract.
The sycamore tree produces individual male and female flowers on the same plant. Female flowers are yellowish-green and yield fruit in the fall which many call “buttonballs”. These fruit hang on 3 to 6 inch long straight stalks. These fruit are one inch thick brown fibrous balls composed of closely packed seeds 
with long, narrow wings. The seeds surround a woody center which is about 1/4 inch thick (I once thought this was the seed). When fully ripe the balls release their winged seeds, which are dispersed by wind. These seeds are often referred to as “helicopters” because as they fall they rotate similar to a helicopter’s propeller.
Sycamore trees have an interesting place in America’s history. At 68 Wall Street in New York City the “Buttonwood Agreement” was signed in 1792 under a buttonwood (sycamore) tree, setting the terms for creation of the New York Stock Exchange. More recently, in New York City on September 11, 2001 a 100 year old sycamore tree shielded the small Saint 
Paul’s Chapel of 1766 from the falling World Trade Center. Though tons of debris fell towards the church, the tree’s spreading branches absorbed the shock so that not a single pane of glass was broken in the church. The spreading roots of this tree have been preserved as a memorial. It is worth noting that the sycamore tree is mentioned in the popular song “Dream a little dream of me”, in the line “…Birds singing in the sycamore trees”. This is truly an interesting tree.
