Acer pseudoplatanus

What to Eat

Edible parts: Sap, Seeds, Leaves - flavour, Flowers - tea.

Sycamore is planted in parks for ornamental purposes, and sometimes as a street tree, for its tolerance of air pollution makes it suitable for use in urban plantings. Owing to its tolerance to wind, it has often been planted in coastal and exposed areas as a windbreak. It produces a hard-wearing, white or cream close-grained timber that turns golden with age. The wood can be worked and sawn in any direction and is used for making musical instruments, furniture, joinery, wood flooring and parquetry. Because it is non-staining, is used for kitchen utensils, wooden spoons, bowls, rolling pins and chopping boards. In Scotland it has traditionally been used for making fine boxes, sometimes in association with contrasting, dark-coloured laburnum wood. Occasionally, trees produce wood with a wavy grain, greatly increasing the value for decorative veneers. The wood is a medium weight for a hardwood, weighing 630 kg per cubic metre. It is a traditional wood for use in making the backs, necks and scrolls of violins. The wood is often marketed as rippled sycamore. Whistles can be made from straight twigs when the rising sap allows the bark to be separated, and these, and sycamore branches, are used in customs associated with early May in Cornwall. The wood is used for fuel, being easy to saw and to split with an axe, producing a hot flame and good embers when burnt. In Scotland, sycamores were once a favoured tree for hangings, because their lower branches rarely broke under the strain. Both male and female flowers produce abundant nectar, which makes a fragrant, delicately flavoured and pale-coloured honey. The nectar and copious dull yellow ochre pollen are collected by honeybees as food sources. The sap rises vigorously in the spring and like that of sugar maple can be tapped to provide a refreshing drink, as a source of sugar and to make syrup or beer.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. A plant native to Europe. It prefers deep fertile soil. It needs to be well drained soil and the plant does best in an open sunny position. It is frost resistant but damaged by drought. It can tolerate salty winds and grow near the coast. It has become naturalised in Tasmania. It suits hardiness zones 4-8. Kyneton Botanical Gardens. Tasmania Herbarium. Arboretum Tasmania.

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Balkans, Bosnia, Britain, Canada, Caucasus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Europe, Georgia, Greece, Luxembourg, Mediterranean, Middle East, North America, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South America, Spain, Switzerland, Tasmania, Turkey, Türkiye, USA,

How to Identify

A shrub or small tree. It grows 5 m tall. There are prickles along the stem. The leaves are twice divided and there are 8-18 pairs of pinnae. There are up to 50 pairs of pinnules on each pinnae. The flowers are yellow. They are in large clusters at the ends of branches. The pods are flattened.

How to Grow

Grows well in heavy clay soils. Chlorosis can sometimes develop as a result of iron deficiency when the plants are grown in alkaline soils, but in general maples are not fussy as to soil pH. Dislikes wet soils. Grows better in the cooler areas of the country. Very wind-resistant, tolerating maritime exposure though it is often wind and salt pruned in very exposed areas. A fairly aggressive tree, it self-sows freely and inhibits the growth of nearby plants. It is often one of the first trees to colonize open land. It is fast growing and establishes rapidly. It can supplant native trees, at least in the short-term, though recent evidence suggests that in the long term it does not usually become the dominant tree in British woodlands and it is often recommended for planting in broad-leaved woods by the Forestry Commission, especially in windy areas. Plants are subject to sooty bark disease - this is not fatal and occurs most often in years that follow hot summers. There are many named forms that have been selected for their ornamental value. Trees take 25 years to come into bearing from seed. In garden design, as well as the above-ground architecture of a plant, root structure considerations help in choosing plants that work together for their optimal soil requirements including nutrients and water.

Propagation: Sow fresh seed immediately in a cold frame, usually germinating the following spring. For stored seed, soak 24 hours then stratify at 1-8°c for 2-4 months; keep seeds above 35% moisture. Harvest seed 'green' (fully developed but undried) and sow immediately for late-winter germination. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough, growing to 20cm+ before planting out. Layering takes about 12 months. Take cuttings of young shoots in June or July with 2-3 leaf pairs plus one terminal bud pair; remove a thin bark slice at the base and use rooting hormone. Rooted cuttings must show new summer growth before potting up. Cultivars can be budded onto species rootstock; graft in September rather than February.

Medicinal Uses

The bark has mild astringent properties, used as a wash for skin problems and an eyewash for sore eyes. The inner bark containing sweet sap serves as a wound dressing.

Other Uses

Trees are fast-growing, making good windbreaks in exposed and maritime areas; commonly used in shelterbelt plantings. They typically self-sow freely and pioneer disused farmland and cleared woodlands, making them excellent pioneer species for woodland regeneration. Over 200+ years, native species gradually displace this species. Leaves packed around apples and root crops aid preservation. Wood is very hard, heavy, elastic, and easy to work, fairly insect-resistant, used for carving, small domestic items, and veneer. It makes excellent fuel and quality charcoal.

Sycamore Maple is a fast-growing deciduous tree reaching 30 m tall and 15 m wide. Flowers appear April to June with seeds ripening September to October. The tree is monoecious and bee-pollinated. It thrives in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils, tolerating heavy clay and nutrient-poor soils while preferring well-drained conditions. It grows in semi-shade or full sun, prefers moist soil, tolerates maritime exposure, and is hardy to UK zone 5.

Production

It is a fast growing tree. Trees can take 25 years to come into bearing from seed. They make good windbreaks in seaside areas. Trees can live for 200 years.

Other Information

Children suck the sweet sap from the keys.

Notes

There are about 120-150 Acer species. This one can become invasive.

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