The Irvington Sycamore
age unknownAmerican Sycamore
Which one is it? A big plane-like tree with strikingly white upper limbs and single hanging seed balls.
The city's note on this tree reads, in full, "Big 13'". That is the entire official record, written by whoever measured it in 1999, and it is not wrong: thirteen feet is 3.9 metres round, under a crown twenty six metres across. American sycamore is the parent that gave the London plane its constitution, and side by side the difference is legible. Sycamore sheds bark higher and harder, so the upper limbs go bone white, and from a distance an old one looks as though someone has painted the top half. The leaves are broader and shallower lobed than the hybrid's, and the seed balls hang singly rather than in pairs, which is the field mark worth remembering. It is the eastern end of the Irvington heritage cluster. From here the catalpas are a block north, the elm and the planes are six blocks west, and the wingnut line closes the walk at NE 15th, which is about a kilometre and a half all told.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. NE 25th Avenue at Thompson, Irvington. Bus 8, then six blocks east.
- Species
- American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
- Age estimate
- Location
- 2524 NE 25th Avenue, Irvington (Irvington)
- Access
- Free. Street tree on the public right of way.
- Getting there
- NE 25th Avenue at Thompson, Irvington. Bus 8, then six blocks east.
Trees nearby
Ticking this one off, walks past several more, and your collection growing city by city: that is the Ancient Trees app.
Get the appThis page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.
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