Sycamore
Common Name – Sycamore
Irish Name – seiceamar
Latin Name – acer pseudoplatanus
Quote
“That each day I may walk unceasingly on the banks of my water, that my soul may repose on the
branches of the trees which I planted, that I may refresh myself under the shadow of my
sycamore.”
The bark of the sycamore is covered with a whitish and reddish-brown patched surface. Creamy patches represent newly formed bark, while reddish-brown patches represent old bark. Sycamore trees measure up to 98 to 130 feet in height and 4.9 to 6.6 feet in diameter. Seeds of sycamore are known as “helicopters” because of their wings that rotate like helicopter’s propellers on the wind. The fruits of sycamore look like a brownish woody ball that ripens in October.
There’s an Egyptian creation myth about sycamore. The goddess Hathor, the Holy Cow, sat in a sycamore at sunset and created the earth, everything living on it, and the sun. There’s no Holy Cow sitting in this sycamore, only a couple of rather agitated blackbirds, but the tree’s creativity is irrepressible.