American Sycamore (Platanus Occidentalis)

American Sycamore, Platanus Occidentalis, has fascinated me ever since I was a little kid. Once, a long time ago, I saw the trees across a wide field by a river, and hoped for a chance to see them up close. Wish granted, when I moved here I suddenly found the trees all around me - especially by the river at what quickly became my favorite local park.

After the last storm, I discovered a very large downed branch along my favorite walking route near my neighborhood. Dog on one side, massive limb on the other, I wandered home and giggled about all the cars that were slowing down to take a good look at the walking tree!

They are very pretty trees, especially in the fall and winter, because the outer bark peels off in great scales to reveal the white wood underneath. Most of the sycamores here have huge leaves with saw teeth around the edges, but the specimen I brought home is one of the less common ones with smaller, smooth leaves.

Actually, these trees aren't sycamores at all, but rather a member of the Plane tree family. In some areas, London Planes, a  hybrid between the Platanus Occidentalis and Platanus Orientalis (the one native to India and the Middle East) is commonly used as a landscaping plant. Both P. Occidentalis and P. Orientalis have traditional medicinal uses, so it would be interesting to see how the London Planes might fare in the hands of an interested herbalist. 

But, based on the leaf shape, the single fruit per stem, and the location of the one I found the other day, I have a piece of Platanus Occidentalis to play with.




It had been a while since I last read up on this tree. After shredding some twigs, peeling off some inner bark, and installing the bits and pieces into a canning jar full of vodka, I turned my attention to finding more detailed information than what I remembered. (Which was: "Diaphoretic and diuretic. . . I think.")

Here are the sources I turned up with an online search: a USDA Plant Guide ; the University of Michigan's ethnobotany database; and a blurb from Scudder.

The USDA Plant Guide summarized the traditional ethnobotanical uses of P. Occidentalist:


"Ethnobotanic: Native Americans used sycamore for a variety of medicinal purposes, including cold and cough remedies, as well as dietary, dermatological, gynecological, respiratory, and gastrointestinal aids."

The University of Michigan's ethnobotanical database went into a little more detail. Generally, root decoctions were used for gynecological purposes, such as to help expel the afterbirth, and the inner bark was favored for a myriad of other uses.

Among the internal uses for the inner bark:

• given in cases of milky urine, or difficult urination with yellow discharge. 
• mixed with honey locust bark as a gargle for sore throat and hoarseness and as a drink for colds
• blood purifier
• measles
• dysentery
• internal pain and ulcers
• hemorrhages 
• lung troubles: asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, coughs
• catarrh (copious mucus associated with head colds, chest coughs, and sinus infections)

An infusion of the inner bark was even deemed safe enough to give to infants for rashes. That may or may not be useful information: from what I understand, babies are prone to experiencing all sorts of rashes, and the literature I had access to didn't say specifically what kind of rashes.

Topically, a decoction of the inner bark was used for skin eruptions and eczema, to dry up and prevent scarring from smallpox rashes, as a wash for knife and ax wounds, and to bathe infected sores. Additionally, a combination of the bark and roots was used to make a foot soak for rheumatism

There was even a mention of the plant being used 'in a steam bath for indigestion or biliousness', but, once again, the database is a little vague on the specifics.

Scudder had this to say:

"Platanus.

Dose.—Of an infusion of one ounce to a pint of boiling water, from two to six ounces.

The bark and twigs of the Platanus Occidentalis, or Sycamore, is said to be diaphoretic, diuretic, anodyne, and antispasmodic. It is sometimes employed in infusion in the acute exanthematous fevers—as measles, scarlet fever, etc.—when the eruption is slowly or imperfectly developed, or when it recedes. It is used as a diuretic in nephritic affections, calculous irritation, and other diseases of the urinary organs. It has also been used in pertussis, night-sweats, and dysentery, with advantage. We have used a strong decoction of the bark of this and the white oak in night-sweats, the infusion being used internally at the same time."

Also, I found one other pretty cool article on the edible and other miscellaneous uses of  American Sycamore is over at this website: Eat The Weeds. 

I'm really looking forward to experimenting with the extract I'm making, as well as the more traditional bark and twig decoctions. Has anyone else used this plant or know of anyone who has?