Tree · Platanaceae
American sycamore
Platanus occidentalis
American sycamore is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,310 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American sycamore at a glance
- Native in
- 1,310 counties, across 33 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −34°F
- Mature height
- 100 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −34°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American sycamore is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,310 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,310 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 64 counties
- Arkansas 75 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 16 counties
- Georgia 27 counties
- Illinois 102 counties
- Indiana 61 counties
- Iowa 6 counties
- Kansas 46 counties
- Kentucky 120 counties
- Louisiana 57 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 23 counties
- Mississippi 23 counties
- Missouri 114 counties
- Nebraska 5 counties
- New Hampshire 3 counties
- New Jersey 15 counties
- New York 46 counties
- North Carolina 53 counties
- Ohio 88 counties
- Oklahoma 32 counties
- Pennsylvania 63 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 22 counties
- Tennessee 38 counties
- Texas 32 counties
- Vermont 6 counties
- Virginia 99 counties
- West Virginia 45 counties
- Wisconsin 11 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 100 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.9 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 30 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −34°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Red
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Platanaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PLOC
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Platanus occidentalis (PLANTS symbol PLOC).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources