ejhensel's Identifications

A Western Sycamore (Platanus racemosa), photographed at Overfelt Gardens Park in San Jose, CA. This is a unique and distinctive native tree; no other species of tree in California has its stately, silvery-grey trunk, with its blotchy, patchwork bark, or its broadly palmate leaves, with their almost cloth-like texture.

Shot 1 provides a grand view of the tree's silvery-gray trunk and branches, along with what was left of its canopy. With it being the start of autumn, many of its leaves had already begun to turn brown and fall to the ground, leaving its canopy a bit threadbare. This did have its advantages, though, as it allowed one to admire the muscular character of its trunk and branches.

Shot 2 shows the tree from the opposite side, and also from a further distance away, so one can see it in situ. From that distance, once can more easily see the general shape and habit of this tree. The tree was probably 35 to 40 feet tallk, with a trunk that was about two or three feet in diameter near the base.

Shot 3 provides a closeup of the tree's trunk and bark. The tree sheds its bark in irregular, blotch-shaped patches that remind me a bit of jigsaw puzzle pieaces. In Shot 3, it has shed some patches of olf bark recently, revealing the new bark underneat. This shedding of the old bark is so recent that the new bark underneath still retains a bit of its fresh, yellow-green color. With time, the new bark will dry out a bit and turn silvery gray, just like the bark on the rest of the tree.

Finally, Shot 4 provides a moderate closeup of a cluser of the tree's leaves. They are palmate in shape, similar to the leaves of maples or sweetgum trees; however, they are much larger - on the order of 5 to 6 inches wide and 4.5 to 5 inches long. Although each leaf is deeply lobed, the lobes themselves bear few (if any) teeth. The leaf is also relatively thick, and has an almost felty, cloth-like texture.