Plant Name
Scientific Name: Platanus wrightii
Synonym: Platanus racemosa var. wrightii
Common Name: Arizona Sycamore
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Deciduous
Growth Habit: Tree
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Mountain, Riparian. This attractive tree typically grows in rocky canyons with flowing water for at least part of the year.
Flower Color: Inconspicuous (red, green)
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 80 feet (24 m) tall
Description: This monoecious tree has green to red female flower heads and dark red male flower heads in clusters of 2 to 4. The female flower heads are followed by spherical, green drying to brown seed heads that dangle on up to 8 inch (20 cm) long stalks. The leaves are green above, pale green below, and palmately-lobed into 3, 5, or 7 point-tipped lobes. The bark is smooth, pealing, and white with brown-gray patches. In canyons in the mountains, Elegant Trogons (Trogon elegans), owls, and many other birds nest in the rotted out holes that form in the trunk or broken branch stumps of the large, older trees.
The maple-like leaves, white bark, and dangling seed balls distinguish this tree from the other riparian trees found here.
Special Characteristics
Allergenic – The pollen is a moderate allergen.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Hamamelididae
Order: Hamamelidales
Family: Platanaceae – Plane-tree family
Genus: Platanus L. – sycamore
Species: Platanus wrightii S. Watson – Arizona sycamore
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