Sycamore, also called American planetree, buttonball tree, or buttonwood, is a common shade tree throughout much of the eastern United States. It is one of the largest broadleaf tree species in North America. It's distinctive, scaling bark and large, hand-like leaves make it easy to spot.

Although not a significant wildlife tree, some species benefit from sycamore trees, including songbirds like finches and juncos that eat the seeds. Beaver, squirrel, and muskrat also consume the fruits and white-tailed deer occasionally browse on the vegetation. Many cavity-nesting birds, such as owls, flycatchers, and chimney swifts, inhabit the nearly hollow trunks of older trees. Wood ducks are known to build nests in the old tree

trunks and some species of bats use sycamores as nursery trees.

The wood from sycamore is coarse-grained and slightly twisted, but not very strong. It is used to make boxes, crates, yokes, furniture, butcher's blocks, and woodenware. Baskets may also be fashioned from the bark or thin strips of wood. Some trees are grown for timber that may be used for interior trim work, veneer, or pulpwood. This fast-growing, long-lived species is frequently planted as a backyard tree, or as a roadside landscape tree.

Sycamore is found from southern Ontario, south into Florida and west as far as Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas.

The roots of the trees intertwine and help to stabilize soils, so sycamores are often grown to minimize erosion, especially along stream banks. They are useful in reclamation sites, due to the trees' tolerance to saturated soils, or acidic conditions. In Florida, sycamores have been planted over phosphate mining sites. The trees are susceptible to damage from high winds, ice, pollutants in the air. and a variety of insects and diseases and may suffer from scorched bark in fire-prone areas.

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