SYCAMORE; BUTTONWOOD; AMERICAN PLANE TREE (Plat anus occidentatis, Linn.). 75 to 150 feet. Large, stately, but unsymmetrical tree, with stout, tall trunk, and loose, broad head. Bark brown with small scales on the trunk; on branches smooth, whitish blotched with olive green, shedding in irreg ular plates. Buds solitary, conical, developed under the hollow base of the leaf stalk. Leaves broader than long, 3 to 5 lobed, 7 to 9 inches across, pale beneath, and fuzzy on veins. Stems short, with a ruffled sheath at base. Flowers May, moncecious, both kinds in globular heads on flexible, tough stems. Staminate axillary, red; pistillate terminal, green,
with red stigmas. Fruit dry, swinging balls, 3 inches in diam eter, composed of crowded, pointed seeds, which gradually are freed, and carried away by wind. Dist.: Maine to Minne sota and Nebraska; south to Florida and Texas. Preferred habitat, rich, wet bottom land. Excellent shade tree for cities, especially smoky ones; foliage endures noxious gases. Wood preferred for butchers' blocks, tobacco boxes, etc.