sycamore [sik-uh-mawr, -mohr]

sycamore

[sik-uh-mawr, -mohr]
sycamore: see plane tree.

Any of several distinct trees called by the same name though in different genera and families. In the U.S. the term refers to the American plane tree or buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis), a hardy street tree. The sycamore maple, or mock plane (Acer pseudoplatanus), is sometimes also called simply sycamore. The biblical sycamore, actually the sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus), was used by the ancient Egyptians to make mummy cases.

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Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms.

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