Type of Tree

[Deleted member 56069]

This may seem like a stupid question, but what type of tree is shown in this picture? They are everywhere in public courtyards on the Camino. Obviously heavily pruned each year. This picture is from April, 2015 in Burgos.

 

[wayfarer]

It is the The Spanish Plane Tree (Platanus Hispanica), in France it is Platanus occidentalis.)

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Plane tree
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/pollarded-plane.html

 

[Theatregal]

I asked someone in Burgos about them and was told they were a variety of Sycamore.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I asked someone in Burgos about them and was told they were a variety of Sycamore.

This from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platanus

They are often known in English as planes or plane trees. Some North American species are called sycamores (especially Platanus occidentalis[2]), although the term sycamore also refers to the fig Ficus sycomorus, the plant originally so named, and to the Sycamore Maple Acer pseudoplatanus.[2]

 

[wayfarer]

The Emperor Napoleon is credited with originating the policy of lining French roads with these trees, to enable his soldiers to march in the shade, the banks of many of France's canals are also lined with them. The ones along certain stretches of the canal have been infected with a fungus that was brought in on the ammo boxes of the American allied troops during WW2, and are now sadly being cut down.
They are also being removed along several stretches of French roadways because of the high death toll when people crash into them.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/13/canal-du-midi-under-threat
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/t...leons-troops-face-their-waterloo-1092916.html

 

[Forestgirl]

This may seem like a stupid question, but what type of tree is shown in this picture? They are everywhere in public courtyards on the Camino. Obviously heavily pruned each year. This picture is from April, 2015 in Burgos.View attachment 31736

I'd have to agree with many others. I believe it is a Sycamore. Pollarding is typical for this type of tree. It keeps, what would be a normally large growing tree, at a manageable size. The trunk will continue to grow wider, and the leaves will thicken to form a good amount of shade which is why it's featured in areas where people can rest and get out of the sun. The bark is very interesting so there is some artistic attention which is nice to look at when the tree goes dormant in the winter.

 

[Mike Savage]

Definitely a Plane tree. In the Western US we call them Sycamores.

 

[Forestgirl]

Thanks for the reference. There's a tree that I loved and never could figure it out. Maybe you know this one too. I'll have to dig through some photos and see if I can find it. I recall seeing them around the Estella/Logrono area. They were not used as shade trees and roughly 10 feet tall and still newly planted within the past 10 years. They saw them mainly planted along sidewalks and play yards. They had the prettiest delicate blooms, light light green at the ends of branches with tiny ivory flowers and caught the slightest breeze causing it to shake like a Pom Pom. Leaves were slender and medium green on top and underside was a hue lighter. Not much of a fragrance as I recall. When I asked a few of the locals through my dreadful Spanish or with a interrupter, I was told the were a hybrid between an almond and ??? I forget. I know that's not much of a description, but do know of such a tree? Thanks Jennifer

 

[TaijiPilgrim]

Speaking of trees, do you know the name of the trees in Burgos and on the meseta that seemed to be blossoming white cotton puffs that covered the ground like snow in May/June?

 

[peregrina2000]

Well, now I'm in a pickle. I have always LOVED the plane trees walking in Spain, but I HATE the two huge sycamores that are in front of my house and are enormous -- and that still haven't dropped all their leaves from last year. I had no idea they were the same thing. So I guess it's a pointed example of a love-hate relationship.

And p.s., the white cotton puff trees, are, I think, cottonwoods. I have fond memories of walking along the canal outside Medina del Ríoseco on the Camino de Madrid and feeling like I was walking through a snowstorm.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Mike Savage]

I agree with Laurie. Cottonwood trees of the Poplar family so I believe the Spanish name would be árbol de álamo or álamo.

Somebody please correct me if my Spanish is wrong.

Mike

 

[Marigold Mama]

This may seem like a stupid question, but what type of tree is shown in this picture? They are everywhere in public courtyards on the Camino. Obviously heavily pruned each year. This picture is from April, 2015 in Burgos.View attachment 31736

One must be sure of what one calls by name be it plant or tree. If you do not use the Latin form for identification then you may be actually calling something by it's wrong name.
For future horticulturalist to be..."
Latin (botanical) names are necessary, because common names for plants vary from region to region and even from town to town. One plant may live under several different common names. Or a single common name may refer to several plants that don’t look anything alike (example: bluebells). Assigning a plant a single Latin name — say, Cornus florida (flowering dogwood) — means it won’t get mixed up with something else.

Latin names tell you a lot about a plant if you pay attention to the lingo. They can tell you:

+ Where a plant is from (canadensis, chinensis, japonica, virginiana)

+ The color of flowers or foliage (alba = white, aurea = golden, lutea = yellow, rubra = red)

+ What a plant is used for (Hepatica or liverwort has been used to treat hepatitis of the liver)

+ The shape of the plant (arborea = treelike, compacta = dense), nana = dwarf, scandens = climbing)

Latin is a dead language that is why famed Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus decided to catalog all in Latin.
taken from: http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2010/07/30/why-do-plants-have-latin-names/
Class is over. Thank you for your undivided attention.

 

[William Marques]

Latin names are however useful in identifying trees which have different names in different countries. In the UK the Sycamore is Acer pseudoplatanus and the Plane is Platanus x hispanica. The Sycamore being a weed tree and the Plane somewhat more noble.

The botanical name of sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus, means 'like a plane tree'. The sycamore is an Acer and not closely related to plants in the Platanus genus, although the leaves are superficially similar.

 

[wayfarer]

@ZREXER doesn't seem to have returned to acknowledge and learn the answers to his OP, he is missing a lot of great information.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Hi
Do not confuse:
Plátano. Platanus hispanicaa. It´s a tree.
Plátano (Banana). Fruit of the Platanera . Musacea balbisiana. It´s a plant.

 

[Mike Savage]

Latin names are however useful in identifying trees which have different names in different countries. In the UK the Sycamore is Acer pseudoplatanus and the Plane is Platanus x hispanica. The Sycamore being a weed tree and the Plane somewhat more noble.

The botanical name of sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus, means 'like a plane tree'. The sycamore is an Acer and not closely related to plants in the Platanus genus, although the leaves are superficially similar.

In the US the sycamore is not an Acer (Maple) but is Platanus Occidentalis and what we call a London Plane Tree is mostly Platanus x acerifolia and infrequently Platanus x hispanica.

I'm sure this doesn't help the OP but I did find it interesting.

Mike