American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis L., is associated with the Bible story of Zacchaeus because of translation error. In the children version of the story Zacchaeus had climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus then when Jesus told Zacchaeus to climb down he slide down so fast that the bark doesn’t stay on the tree anymore. This error and hyperbole is understandable because both the original text and translation occurred well before the binominal naming system, which was devised in the eighteenth century while the actual tree was called a sycamore-fig, Ficus sycomorus, because the bark is similar to the Oriental planetree , P. orientalis L., that was probably more familiar to the translators. A key difference in the form of the trees led to the hyperbole about the bark, where sycamore has a strong central leader that could be slid down while sycamore-fig often has an angled trunk that could be climbed by walking up the tree, thus Zacchaeus was probably sitting in such a tree that was overhanging the road, therefore, he could just drop down right next to Jesus.
American
sycamore can be distinguished from most other tree species since the base of the leaf stalk surrounds the bud, which is evident as a scar after the leaf falls. I only recall of one other native tree like that. American sycamore is different from the other sycamores because the ball like fruit is a singular, while the other species have a string of such
balls.
In the
Southeast it is a facultative wetland species where it can often be seen on
streambanks such as the Paint Rock River.
Just over 40 years ago the river was channelized and the banks were
clearcut in a in a failed effort by the Corp. of Engineers to eliminate flooding. This failed on many levels such as causing
worse flooding in some areas besides causing long lasting environmental damage
some of which is just now being corrected at great expense such as to restore the
original creek channels and eliminate streambank erosion where no trees
remained. Some of the logs and or stumps
from the clearcut can still be seen where they were buried in erosion sediments
by subsequent floods. This probably
eliminated the population of several mussel species that are now critically endangered. At first glance this damage is not evident,
but nearly every American sycamore on the riverbank is a large coppice and
sections of the river are long shallow pools, including some lined with riprap,
where there is little current, no shoals and consequently few fish. Even though it was apparently much better
before the flawed flood control efforts this is still one of the best places in