Platanus occidentalis

Details Top

Internal ID UUID644002df070ad899828024
Scientific name Platanus occidentalis
Authority L.
First published in Sp. Pl. : 999 (1753)

Ethnobotanical Use Top

Write a new one!
No ethnobotanical data added yet. Help us by writing one.

General Uses Top

Suggest a correction!

Industrial and craft applications:
American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is used as a minor component in hardwood pulpwood mixes for kraft pulp production. The wood has a relatively high proportion of fibers with moderate lignin content and is suitable for paper grades where strength and brightness requirements can be met by bleaching. ASTM and TAPPI methods are typically applied to evaluate pulp yield, strength, and brightness of hardwood mixes containing sycamore.

Wood and fiber:
The timber is used for furniture, interior joinery, millwork, flooring, veneer (mainly as secondary species), boxes and crates, pallets, tool handles, and turning. Published wood-property data (e.g., USDA Forest Products Laboratory) show sycamore to be a diffuse-porous hardwood with medium hardness, moderate bending strength and stiffness, good cleavage resistance, and a tendency to split when nailed. These properties support its use in flooring and millwork, and the moderate strength and stability support furniture and interior joinery where high durability is not critical. Sycamore is sometimes included in engineered wood panels as a minor face veneer species to aid machinability.

Properties relevant to use:
As a diffuse-porous hardwood, sycamore yields smooth machining surfaces. Its drying behavior requires care to minimize checking and collapse due to large earlywood-latewood contrasts, but adequately kiln-dried stock is dimensionally stable for interior applications. The moderate mechanical strength, low splitting resistance in fasteners, and good machining characterize sycamore’s suitability in furniture, millwork, and flooring. For pulp, the wood’s fiber characteristics and lignin content are consistent with hardwood kraft pulping and bleaching to commercial paper standards.

Sustainability and sourcing:
American sycamore is a fast-growing native species commonly grown in bottomland and riparian areas, and is listed in regional pulpwood specifications as a usable hardwood species. Sustainable sourcing follows general hardwood procurement practices (e.g., FSC/PEFC chain-of-custody) and typically adheres to national forest management and timber grading standards. Regional availability can fluctuate due to species distribution and market demand; sycamore is generally classified as a secondary species for timber and veneer.

Synonyms Top

Scientific name Authority First published in
Platanus orientalis var. occidentalis Kuntze Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 636 (1891)
Platanus occidentalis f. attenuata Sarg. Bot. Gaz. 67: 229. 1919
Platanus lobata Moench Methodus : 358 (1794)
Platanus integrifolia hort. ex K.Koch Dendrologie 2(1): 469 (1872)
Platanus excelsa Salisb. Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton 393. 1796 [Nov-Dec 1796]
Platanus densicoma Dode Bull. Soc. Dendrol. France 7: 67 (1908)
Platanus pyramidalis hort. ex Dippel Handb. Laubholzk. 3: 279 (1893)
Platanus vulgaris var. angulosa Spach Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. , sér. 2, 15: 293 (1841)
Platanus occidentalis var. densicoma (Dode) Château & Chassignol
Platanus vulgaris prol. occidentalis (L.) Cadevall

Common names Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!

Language Common/alternative name
English american planetree
English american sycamore
English buttonwood
English occidental plane
Spanish plátano occidental
Spanish platano americano
Spanish plátano americano
Spanish platano de virginia
Spanish plátano de virginia
Spanish platano occidental
Arabic صنار اجنار
Arabic دلب
Arabic دلب غربي
Azerbaijani qərb çinarı
Bulgarian западен чинар
Bulgarian Западен платан
br platan-ar-c'hornôg
Catalan plàtan d'amèrica
Czech platan západní
German amerikanische platane
German westliche platane
Estonian lääneplaatan
Persian چنار آمریکائی
Finnish lännenplataani
Finnish amerikanplataani
French platane occidental
French platane d'occident
Galician plátano occidental
Hebrew דֹּלֶב מַעֲרָבִי
Hebrew שיקמה אמריקאית
Hebrew שקמה אמריקאית
Hebrew שקמה אמריקנית
Hebrew דולב מערבי
Croatian američka platana
Upper Sorbian ameriska platana
Hungarian nyugati platán
Italian platano americano
Italian platano occidentale
Italian sicomoro americano
Japanese アメリカスズカケ
Japanese セイヨウボタンノキ
Japanese アメリカスズカケノキ
Japanese ボタンの木
Japanese ボタンノキ
Korean 양버즘나무
Macedonian американски платан
Macedonian западен чинар
Macedonian западен платан
Macedonian американски чинар
Norwegian Bokmål amerikaplatan
Dutch westerse plataan
Polish platan zachodni
Russian Платан западный
Slovak platan západný
stq amerikoanske platoane
Turkish amerikan çınarı
Turkish batı çınarı
Turkish amerika çınarı
Ukrainian Сикамор
Ukrainian Платан західний
Chinese 一球悬铃木
Chinese 美国梧桐
Chinese 美桐

Subspecies (abbr. subsp./ssp.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
No subspecies added yet.

Varieties (abbr. var.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
No variety added yet.

Subvarieties (abbr. subvar.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
No subvariety added yet.

Forms (abbr. f.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
No forms added yet.

Germination/Propagation Top

Suggest a correction or add new data!
No germination or propagation data was added yet.

Distribution (via POWO/KEW) Top

Legend for the distribution data:
- Doubtful data
- Extinct
- Introduced
- Native
  • Asia-temperate
    • Caucasus
      • North Caucasus
      • Transcaucasus
    • Middle Asia
      • Turkmenistan
  • Northern America
    • Eastern Canada
      • Ontario
    • North-central U.S.A.
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Missouri
      • Nebraska
      • Oklahoma
      • Wisconsin
    • Northeastern U.S.A.
      • Connecticut
      • Indiana
      • Maine
      • Massachusetts
      • Michigan
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New York
      • Ohio
      • Pennsylvania
      • Rhode Island
      • Vermont
      • West Virginia
    • South-central U.S.A.
      • Texas
    • Southeastern U.S.A.
      • Alabama
      • Arkansas
      • Delaware
      • District Of Columbia
      • Florida
      • Georgia
      • Kentucky
      • Louisiana
      • Maryland
      • Mississippi
      • North Carolina
      • South Carolina
      • Tennessee
      • Virginia

Links to other databases Top

Suggest others/fix!
Database ID/link to page
World Flora Online wfo-0000487082
UNII A8520YN83L
Florida Plant Atlas 3828
Flora of Alabama 2858
Cornell Woody Plants 183
Canadensys 7350
USDA Plants PLOC
UConn 336
Tropicos 25300003
INPN 717428
KEW urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:685871-1
The Plant List kew-2570459
Missouri Botanical Garden 285137
Open Tree Of Life 62543
Observations.org 136231
NCBI Taxonomy 4403
NBN Atlas NBNSYS0000042165
Nature Serve 2.138935
IUCN Red List 61956705
IPNI 685871-1
iNaturalist 49662
GBIF 3152820
Freebase /m/027cyr
WisFlora 4536
FEIS plants/tree/plaocc
EPPO PLTOC
EOL 594855
Calflora (Californian flora) 9388
USDA GRIN 28802
Wikipedia Platanus_occidentalis
CMAUP NPO28097
PaleoBotany 79792

Genomes (via NCBI) Top

No reference genome is available on NCBI yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.

Scientific Literature Top

Below are displayed the latest 15 articles published in PMC (PubMed Central®) and other sources (DOI number only)!
If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
Title Authors Publication Released IDs
Impacts of Invasive Plants on Native Vegetation Communities in Wetland and Stream Mitigation DeBerry DA, Hunter DM Biology (Basel) 18-Apr-2024
PMCID:PMC11048567
doi:10.3390/biology13040275
PMID:38666887
An inexpensive moist chamber culture technique for finding microbiota on live tree bark Bordelon AP, Keller HW, Scarborough AR Appl Plant Sci 16-Apr-2024
PMCID:PMC11022227
doi:10.1002/aps3.11578
Long‐term effects of a tornado: Impacts on woody native vegetation and invasive Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) in an urban forest Culley TM, Bécus MS, Cameron GN Ecol Evol 11-Mar-2024
PMCID:PMC10927907
doi:10.1002/ece3.10890
PMID:38476700
Research progress of the detection and analysis methods of heavy metals in plants He S, Niu Y, Xing L, Liang Z, Song X, Ding M, Huang W Front Plant Sci 31-Jan-2024
PMCID:PMC10867983
doi:10.3389/fpls.2024.1310328
PMID:38362447
Pest categorisation of Pestalotiopsis microspora Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Gonthier P, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Migheli Q, Vloutoglou I, Gobbi A, Maiorano A, Pautasso M, Reignault PL EFSA J 21-Dec-2023
PMCID:PMC10733803
doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8493
PMID:38130321
Prevalence of allergic sensitization to Platanus occidentalis among adults with allergic rhinitis: A multicenter study Bedolla-Barajas M, Domínguez-Morales J, Loya-Barriga IM, Bedolla-Pulido A, Jiménez-Huerta LA, Morales-Romero J Asia Pac Allergy 18-Dec-2023
PMCID:PMC10932483
doi:10.5415/apallergy.0000000000000127
PMID:38482461
Update of the Xylella spp. host plant database – systematic literature search up to 30 June 2023 Gibin D, Gutierrez Linares A, Fasanelli E, Pasinato L, Delbianco A EFSA J 15-Dec-2023
PMCID:PMC10722330
doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8477
PMID:38107375
Temperate silvopastures provide greater ecosystem services than conventional pasture systems Amorim HC, Ashworth AJ, O’Brien PL, Thomas AL, Runkle BR, Philipp D Sci Rep 31-Oct-2023
PMCID:PMC10618464
doi:10.1038/s41598-023-45960-0
PMID:37907572
How dense can you be? New automatic measures of vein density in angiosperm leaves Green WA, Losada JM Appl Plant Sci 31-Oct-2023
PMCID:PMC10617316
doi:10.1002/aps3.11551
PMID:37915435
High-quality full genome assembly of historic Xylella fastidiosa strains from ICMP collection using a hybrid sequencing approach Kant P, Brohier N, Mann R, Rigano L, Taylor R, Wong-Bajracharya J, Chapman TA, Kehoe M, Roach R, Rodoni B, Constable F Microbiol Resour Announc 17-Oct-2023
PMCID:PMC10652882
doi:10.1128/MRA.00536-23
PMID:37847022
The most polyphagous insect herbivore? Host plant associations of the Meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius (L.) Thompson V, Harkin C, Stewart AJ PLoS One 04-Oct-2023
PMCID:PMC10602594
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0291734
PMID:37792900
A repertoire of candidate effector proteins of the fungus Ceratocystis cacaofunesta Ramos-Lizardo GN, Mucherino-Muñoz JJ, Aguiar ER, Pirovani CP, Corrêa RX Sci Rep 29-Sep-2023
PMCID:PMC10542334
doi:10.1038/s41598-023-43117-7
PMID:37773261
The Abundant and Unique Transcripts and Alternative Splicing of the Artificially Autododecaploid London Plane (Platanus × acerifolia) Yan X, Chen X, Li Y, Li Y, Wang F, Zhang J, Ning G, Bao M Int J Mol Sci 23-Sep-2023
PMCID:PMC10572260
doi:10.3390/ijms241914486
PMID:37833935
Holarctic Species in the Pluteus podospileus Clade: Description of Six New Species and Reassessment of Old Names Ševčíková H, Malysheva EF, Antonín V, Borovička J, Dovana F, Ferisin G, Eyssartier G, Grootmyers D, Heilmann-Clausen J, Kalichman J, Kaygusuz O, Lebeuf R, Muñoz González G, Minnis AM, Russell SD, Saar I, Nielsen IB, Frøslev TG, Justo A J Fungi (Basel) 31-Aug-2023
PMCID:PMC10532425
doi:10.3390/jof9090898
PMID:37755006
Structure-dependent activity of plant natural products against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Moreno Cardenas C, Çiçek SS Front Microbiol 15-Aug-2023
PMCID:PMC10463185
doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1234115
PMID:37649631

Phytochemical Profile Top

Add a new one!
Below are displayed the proven (via scientific papers) natural compounds!
You can also contribute to this by clicking here.
Name PubChem ID Canonical SMILES MW Found in Proof
> Lipids and lipid-like molecules / Prenol lipids / Monoterpenoids / Menthane monoterpenoids
Carvone, (-)- 439570 Click to see 150.22 unknown via CMAUP database
> Lipids and lipid-like molecules / Prenol lipids / Triterpenoids
Betulinic Acid 64971 Click to see 456.70 unknown via CMAUP database
> Lipids and lipid-like molecules / Steroids and steroid derivatives / Stigmastanes and derivatives
Stigmasterol 5280794 Click to see 412.70 unknown via CMAUP database
> Organic oxygen compounds / Organooxygen compounds / Carbonyl compounds / Cyclic ketones / Cyclohexenones
(1S,4R,8S,12R)-9-[2-(furan-3-yl)ethyl]-4,8,10-trimethyl-2-oxatricyclo[6.3.1.04,12]dodec-9-ene-3,5,11-trione 21596484 Click to see 342.40 unknown via CMAUP database
Ballonigrin 21596483 Click to see CC1=C(C2(CCCC3(C2C(C1=O)OC3=O)C)C)CCC4=COC=C4 328.40 unknown via CMAUP database
> Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Cinnamic acids and derivatives / Hydroxycinnamic acids and derivatives / Hydroxycinnamic acid esters / Coumaric acid esters
[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6S)-2-[2-[2,4-dihydroxy-6-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)methoxy]phenyl]-2-oxoethoxy]-5-hydroxy-3-[(Z)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyl]oxy-6-methyloxan-4-yl] (Z)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoate 46879025 Click to see 728.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
[(2R,3R,4R,5S,6S)-2-[2-[2,4-dihydroxy-6-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)methoxy]phenyl]-2-oxoethoxy]-5-hydroxy-3-[3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyloxy]-6-methyloxan-4-yl] 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoate 163026100 Click to see 728.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
> Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / Flavonoid glycosides / Flavonoid O-glycosides / Flavonoid-3-O-glycosides
[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6S)-2-[5,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxochromen-3-yl]oxy-5-hydroxy-3-[(E)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyl]oxy-6-methyloxan-4-yl] 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoate 162890841 Click to see CC1C(C(C(C(O1)OC2=C(OC3=CC(=CC(=C3C2=O)O)O)C4=CC=C(C=C4)O)OC(=O)C=CC5=CC=C(C=C5)O)OC(=O)C=CC6=CC=C(C=C6)O)O 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6S)-2-[5,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxochromen-3-yl]oxy-5-hydroxy-3-[(Z)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyl]oxy-6-methyloxan-4-yl] (E)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoate 44612902 Click to see CC1C(C(C(C(O1)OC2=C(OC3=CC(=CC(=C3C2=O)O)O)C4=CC=C(C=C4)O)OC(=O)C=CC5=CC=C(C=C5)O)OC(=O)C=CC6=CC=C(C=C6)O)O 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6S)-2-[5,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxochromen-3-yl]oxy-5-hydroxy-3-[3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyloxy]-6-methyloxan-4-yl] (E)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoate 163186508 Click to see 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
[2-[5,7-Dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxochromen-3-yl]oxy-5-hydroxy-3-[3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyloxy]-6-methyloxan-4-yl] 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoate 74978082 Click to see 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
E,Z-Platanoside 44612901 Click to see CC1C(C(C(C(O1)OC2=C(OC3=CC(=CC(=C3C2=O)O)O)C4=CC=C(C=C4)O)OC(=O)C=CC5=CC=C(C=C5)O)OC(=O)C=CC6=CC=C(C=C6)O)O 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
Kaempferol 3-O-alpha-L-(2, 3-di-Z-p-coumaroyl) rhamnoside 44613032 Click to see 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/
Platanoside 6451113 Click to see 724.70 unknown https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883668/

Gallery Top

We don't have an image yet. Upload an image!

Contributors Top

No known contributors. Be the first!

Collections Top

In private collections 0
In public collections 0
You need to be authenticated in order to add this taxon to a personal collection.