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Platanus occidentalis

Common name:	Buttonwood	Family:	Platanaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	11, 43, 200
Synonyms:	Platanus vulgaris angulosa (Spach.), Platanus macrophylla (Hort. (pro parte).), Platanus hispanica (Hort (pro parte).)
Known Hazards:	In hot dry climates the hairs of the fruits and leaves are believed to cause an effect similar to hay fever[11, 200].
Range:	Eastern N. America - New England to Florida, west to Texas and Nebraska.
Habitat:	Rich soils on the borders of streams and lakes[43, 82].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	P. occidentalis var. glabrata[B,P] P. x acerifolia var. hispanica[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	American Sycamore [DEN1,B,P], Button Tree [E], Platano [E], Sycamore [FEIS,E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	occidentalis = of the west
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Hamamelidales. Plane-tree family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Italy Mexico(Kickapoo) Us Us(Wv)

Physical Characteristics

A decidious tree growing to 30m by 30m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 5. It is in flower in May, and the seeds ripen from October to March. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist or wet soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure. It can tolerate atmospheric pollution.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Bog Garden, Woodland, Canopy.

Edible Uses

Sap Sweetener.

The sweet sap is tapped in the spring and used in the preparation of syrup and sugar[105, 177, 183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antirheumatic Astringent Diuretic Emetic Laxative Poultice Salve.

The inner bark is astringent, diuretic, emetic and laxative[222]. It has been used as a tea in the treatment of dysentery, coughs, colds, lung ailments, haemorrhages, measles, milky and difficult urination etc and also as a blood tonic[222, 257]. Externally, it has been used as a wash on wounds[257]. An infusion of the bark and roots has been used as a foot soak for treating rheumatism[257].
The bark ooze has been used as a wash on infected sores and an infusion has been given in the treatment of infant rash[257].
An infusion of the bark, mixed with honey locust bark (Gleditsia triacanthos), has been used as a gargle to treat hoarseness and sore throat[257].

Other Uses

Shelterbelt Wood.

A fairly wind resistant tree, it can be grown as part of a shelterbelt planting[200].
Wood - coarse-grained, tough, strong, very durable, difficult to split[46, 61, 171]. Rather weak according to other reports[227, 229]. It weighs 35lb per cubic foot[235], and is used for furniture, chopping boards etc[46, 61, 171, 229]. Trunks of wild trees can be up to 4.5 metres in diameter and these were at one time hollowed out to make barges capable of carrying several tons of goods[226].

Cultivation details

Prefers a deep moist loam[1], though it tolerates very wet, poorly drained soils[229]. Requires full sun[200]. Tolerates atmospheric pollution and compacted soils[200]. Established plants are drought tolerant[200]. Fairly wind-resistant[200].
A fast-growing and long-lived tree[200, 229], but it is of no value in Britain, being very susceptible to attack by parasitic fungi[11]. Fairly slow-growing according to another report, which also says that the tree is long-lived in the wild[227]. This species does not do well north of Central France, it requires long hot summers to fully ripen its wood[200].

Propagation

Seed - two months cold stratification improves germination[113]. Sow spring in a cold frame in light shade[78, 98]. Home grown seed is often of poor quality and low viability. It is best to harvest the seed in late winter or spring and then sow it immediately in a cold frame[80]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Cuttings of mature wood of the current years growth, 20 - 30 cm with a heel, autumn in a cold frame[1]. Easy[200].
Layering of stools in spring or autumn. Takes 12 months[78].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
[DEN] Data _ Photos (Good Identification info) from the Virginia Tech's Dendrology Deptarments' Tree Fact Sheets.
[FEIS] Data (Uses, Ecology, Fire Effects) from the USDA Forestry Service Fire Effects Information System.

References for Platanus x acerifolia var. hispanica (a possible synonym).

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for the family Platanaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[78] Sheat. W. G. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. MacMillan and Co 1948
A bit dated but a good book on propagation techniques with specific details for a wide range of plants.

[80] McMillan-Browse. P. Hardy Woody Plants from Seed. Grower Books 1985 ISBN 0-901361-21-6
Does not deal with many species but it is very comprehensive on those that it does cover. Not for casual reading.

[82] Sargent. C. S. Manual of the Trees of N. America. Dover Publications Inc. New York. 1965 ISBN 0-486-20278-X
Two volumes, a comprehensive listing of N. American trees though a bit out of date now. Good details on habitats, some details on plant uses. Not really for the casual reader.

[98] Gordon. A. G. and Rowe. D. C. f. Seed Manual for Ornamental Trees and Shrubs.
Very comprehensive guide to growing trees and shrubs from seed. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[113] Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press 1987 ISBN 0942375009
A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[226] Lauriault. J. Identification Guide to the Trees of Canada Fitzhenry and Whiteside, Ontario. 1989 ISBN 0889025649
Very good on identification for non-experts, the book also has a lot of information on plant uses.

[227] Vines. R.A. Trees of North Texas University of Texas Press. 1982 ISBN 0292780206
A readable guide to the area, it contains descriptions of the plants and their habitats with quite a bit of information on plant uses.

[229] Elias. T. The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 1980 ISBN 0442238622
A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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