Platanus racemosa | |
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California Sycamore by Mathias Joseph Alten c. 1929 (Grand Rapids Art Museum) | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Proteales |
Family: | Platanaceae |
Genus: | Platanus |
Species: | P. racemosa |
Binomial name | |
Platanus racemosa | |
Natural range |
Platanus racemosa is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish aliso. [1] Platanus racemosa is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in riparian areas, canyons, floodplains, at springs and seeps, and along streams and rivers in several types of habitats. [1] [2] [3] It can be found as far north as Tehama and Humboldt counties.
This large tree grows to 35 meters (110 ft) in height with a trunk diameter of up to one meter (three feet). The height of these trees ranges from 10 to 35 meters (33 to 115 ft). [4] A specimen on the campus of Stanford University has a trunk girth (circumference) of 10.5 feet (3.20 m). [5] The trunk generally divides into two or more large trunks splitting into many branches. The bark is an attractive patchwork of white, tawny beige, pinkish gray, and pale brown. [6] Both older bark and twigs on this plane sycamore become darker with time. The twigs and bark range from a light brownish gray to a shade resembling the color sepia.
Platanus racemosa is the dominant species in the globally and state endangered sycamore-alluvial woodland habitat.
The large palmately lobed leaves may be up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) centimeters wide and have three or five pointed lobes. [4] New leaves are a bright translucent green and somewhat woolly. [5] The deciduous tree drops copious amounts of dry golden to orangish red leaves in the fall. The inflorescence is made up of a few spherical flower heads each around a centimeter wide. The female flower heads develop into spherical fruit clusters each made up of many hairy, maroon-red-woolly achenes. [1] Depending on the sex, the inflorescence can either be red, if female, or chartreuse, if male. After the female clusters fertilize, the achenes bear a fruit that breaks apart and scatters just as the tree's pollen does. [1] [6]
The tough and coarse-grained wood is difficult to split and work. It has various uses, including acting as a meat preparation block for butchers. Many small birds feed on its fruit, and several mammals eat its twigs and bark. The pollen resulting from the hairs on the leaves and flowers of Western sycamores can be allergens for some people. [7] New leaves are susceptible to anthracnose canker, which, when it causes a side bud to become the new leader, can create picturesque angling trunks and branches on older specimens. [7]
It is also widely planted horticulturally as a landscape tree in public landscapes and private gardens. While it requires some water, and can be grown in lawns, once established it is drought tolerant. New appreciation for how it shades sun in summer and lets sun through in winter has led to its use in green architecture and sustainable design.
California sycamore wood is extremely hard and difficult to work, but can still be employed to create a variety of items such as buttons, tobacco boxes, furniture, wooden utensils, and barrels. [1] [8] The form and wide canopy of the species make it an effective shade tree. [6] This western sycamore's shade cools the surrounding bodies of water while simultaneously offering a home for some animals in the humid environment in which it flourishes. [9]
Increased human interference has made the P. racemosa more susceptible to cross-breeding with other Platanus trees. This hybridization with other species like the P. x acerifolia offers the P. racemosa the advantage of resisting fungal diseases, namely the sycamore anthracnose. Interbred California sycamores are less vulnerable to this disease than the original P. racemosa as it harms their wood. However, sycamore anthracnose produces deadwood which creates a habitat for animals like wood ducks. The lack of non-hybridized P. racemosa thus harms the riparian woodlands in which they thrive. [9]
Another disease that the P. racemosa is particularly receptive to is the Fusarium dieback which is carried and passed on through two kinds of invasive ambrosia beetles. Removing the tree itself is one way to prevent the significant harms of Fusarium dieback from spreading but a mixture of fungicides such as metconazole combined with an insecticide can additionally reduce the number of ambrosia beetles that transmit this disease. Close monitoring is required in order to prevent a substantial beetle infestation from occurring as that would damage the tree to the point of needing removal. [10] [4]
Further hybridization between the P. racemosa and P. x hispanica are a threat to the genetic diversity and identity of the former. The disease combatant advantage that the hybrid provides can bring about a decline in the native tree. The ensuing decline and genetic disintegration could not only harm the tree itself, but nesting birds, monarch butterflies, and numerous other small animals that reside or find shelter within the California sycamore's shade. D. Whitlock's study on the RNA of the Platanus trees near the Sacramento River reveals that P. racemosa contains genes from P. x hispanica, which consequently demonstrates the increased erasure of the former. [4]
Platanaceae, the plane family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Proteales. The family consists of only a single extant genus Platanus, with twelve known species. The plants are tall trees, native to temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The hybrid London plane is widely planted in cities worldwide.
Quercus palustris, also called pin oak, swamp oak, or Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section of the genus Quercus. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, and pollution tolerance.
Platanus is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae.
Platanus orientalis, the Oriental plane, is a large, deciduous tree of the Platanaceae family, growing to 30 m (98 ft) or more, and known for its longevity and spreading crown. In autumn its deep green leaves may change to blood red, amber, and yellow.
The London plane, or sometimes hybrid plane, Platanus × hispanica, is a tree in the genus Platanus. It is often known by the synonym Platanus × acerifolia, a later name. It is a hybrid of Platanus orientalis and Platanus occidentalis.
Platanus occidentalis, also known as American sycamore, American planetree, western plane, occidental plane, buttonwood, and water beech, is a species of Platanus native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeastern Mexico, extreme southern Ontario, and extreme southern Quebec. It is usually called sycamore in North America, a name which can refer to other types of trees in other parts of the world; in the United Kingdom, for example, the name syacamore typically refers to Acer pseudoplatanus. The American sycamore is a long-lived species, typically surviving at least 200 years and likely as long as 500–600 years.
Acer pseudoplatanus, known as the sycamore in the British Isles and as the sycamore maple in the United States, is a species of maple native to Central Europe and Western Asia. It is a large deciduous, broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind and coastal exposure.
Betula pendula, commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found at higher altitudes. Its range extends into Siberia, China, and southwest Asia in the mountains of northern Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Iran. It has been introduced into North America, where it is known as the European white birch or weeping birch and is considered invasive in some states in the United States and parts of Canada. The tree can also be found in more temperate regions of Australia.
Betula pubescens, commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern Asia, growing farther north than any other broadleaf tree. It is closely related to, and often confused with, the silver birch, but grows in wetter places with heavier soils and poorer drainage; smaller trees can also be confused with the dwarf birch.
Arbutus menziesii, or Pacific madrone, is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae. It has waxy foliage, a contorted growth habit, and flaky bark.
Cornus nuttallii, the Pacific dogwood,western dogwood, or mountain dogwood, is a species of dogwood tree native to western North America. The tree's name used by Hul'q'umi'num'-speaking nations is Kwi’txulhp.
Fraxinus latifolia, the Oregon ash, is a member of the ash genus Fraxinus, native to western North America.
Inonotus arizonicus is a plant pathogen. I. arizonicus is a locally common saprotrophic polypore that induces white rot in sycamore trees in southwestern North America. Host species include Platanus wrightii and Platanus racemosa. The fruiting bodies, shaped like hooves or a plate or a stack of plates, can appear on trunks, at the base of living trees, or on stumps or snags. In California this species is generally found south of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Populus fremontii, commonly known as Frémont's cottonwood, is a cottonwood native to riparian zones of the Southwestern United States and northern through central Mexico. It is one of three species in Populus sect. Aigeiros. The tree was named after 19th-century American explorer and pathfinder John C. Frémont.
Ceratocystis platani is a fungus that causes a disease on plane trees in the genus Platanus, mostly in North America and Southern Europe.
Euwallacea fornicatus, also known as tea shot-hole borer, or polyphagous shot-hole borer (PSHB) is a species complex consisting of multiple cryptic species of ambrosia beetles known as an invasive species in California, Israel, South Africa, and Australia. The species has also been unintentionally introduced into exotic greenhouses in several European countries.
Euwallacea interjectus is a species of ambrosia beetle in the species complex called Euwallacea fornicatus. It is native to Asia but has been introduced to the Western hemisphere over the last century.
The Eagle Tree was a historic California sycamore tree near the crossing of Long Beach Boulevard and the I-105 in Compton, California. It was used as one of the boundary markers for the border of Rancho San Pedro. The tree, which started growing around the turn of the 17th century, was toppled in 2022, from a combination of disease and a long history of vandalism and government neglect. At that time, it was on land owned by the Chevron Corporation. Its name came from the eagles that were commonly found nesting on the tree.
Leith Hill Rhododendron wood is a garden in Surrey, UK of historic and horticultural significance noted for its collection of rare rhododendrons and redwood trees