They compose verses and songs about this tree, and beautiful autumn bouquets are gathered from its leaves. In nature, there are many species of this tree, one of which is false-maple. How it is characterized, which has varieties, read the article.
Why is false-maple called sycamore?
According to the legends of the ancient Slavs, a man is turned or “sworn” into this tree. Therefore, they never heat the stove with maple, they do not make coffins from it, considering it a great sin to put living people in the ground.
The man turned into sycamore due to a curse by the mother of his naughty children. When musicians pass by a maple, they chop it down and make a violin. Her sounds in the voices of children tell about how the mother was guilty before them.
The Serbs have a different belief. A dry maple will turn green if it is embraced by a person who is wronged unjustly. And, on the contrary, the green maple will dry if it is touched by a deeply unhappy or offended person.
White maple, or sycamore
This tree from the genus Maple is common in Europe - the central part, in Asia - in the southwest. The habitat spans France, Ukraine, northern Spain, Turkey, and the Caucasus.
False maple (sycamore) is a deciduous tree. Its height reaches twenty to thirty-five meters. The wide crown has a domed shape. The trunk bark of trees in the first years of life is smooth, with a gray tint. In adult trees, it is coarse, its scales exfoliate. The bark layers with a different color are clearly visible: pale brown and pinkish.
The leaves are large, the same in size, both in length and in width, from ten to twenty-five centimeters. They consist of five blades. Their edges are serrated. The color is dark green, purple, purple, yellowish, depending on the season. Yellow-green flowers are collected in hanging brushes up to twenty centimeters long. There are many flowers in the inflorescence, from twenty to fifty pieces.
The pairwise arranged seeds have a spherical shape, in the form of a lionfish. Each seed is endowed with small wings, thanks to which it flies during the fall. The wind carries seeds over long distances.
False maple, the photo of which you see in the article, is a strong tree. But it is also subject to the appearance of spots of different colors on the leaves: black, gray, brown. These are pathogenic mushrooms. Maple leaves are a breeding ground for lepidopteran insects.
What is grown and where is it used?
Valued fake maple wood. A description of the variety of sycamore is given by the characterization of wood. It is white, silky, with shine, has high wear resistance. Furniture made from white maple wood is made of furniture, accessories, musical instruments, floor rails, and parquet. Sometimes wood has a fibrous texture, this greatly increases its value. It is used for cladding.
White maple is a good honey plant. Its flowers produce nectar and pollen in abundance - raw materials for processing by bees, resulting in aromatic honey.
White maple in landscaping
This tree is resistant to strong gusts of wind, pollution of air and salt. Therefore, it is popular for landscaping urban areas, roadsides, sea coasts. Currently, maple is distributed north of the habitat in Scandinavia and the British Isles.
On the territory of North America in New York, New England and along the western Pacific coast you can find wild white maples. As a culture, trees are grown in many temperate regions: for example, New Zealand, the Falkland Islands.
Maple Atropurpureum
This species of false-plane maple is a deciduous, slow-growing tree. Reaches twenty five meters in height and twelve in diameter. The dense crown has an oval shape. Leaves consist of five lobes. Their upper part is dark green, and the lower part is dark purple. Young leaves attract a red-brown hue. The flowering period is May. Yellow-green flowers are collected in a brush. The fruit has the shape of a wing, it is called lionfish.
False-maple maple Atropurpureum loves a lot of light, but can grow in the shade. Tolerates excessively moist, dry and saline soils. Prefers fertile soil with good drainage. Due to its high decorative qualities it is used for landscape design: creating hedges, massifs, groves. The tree is adapted to dust and gas contamination. It tolerates winters, but in severe cold it needs shelter so as not to freeze.
Maple leopoldi
This tree reaches a height of ten to fifteen meters. Its wide crown has a pyramidal shape with diameters of eight meters. The leaves are large, deep green. On the surface, uneven spots are clearly visible in the form of sectors and inclusions of white, cream or light green in color, which acquire a yellow tint in autumn. Flowering time is in April. The flowers are small, reddish. Lionfish are brown.
Inoculated maples are more common, their height depends on the height of the stem. Leopoldi is decorative, especially in spring. Trees are planted individually and in groups. From them create landscape compositions and alleys.
False maple Leopoldi loves a lot of light, but also grows in the shade on any soil other than excessively moist, dry and saline. Propagated by seeds and cuttings. It does not tolerate winters with large frosts, it can freeze. It will develop poorly and lose its decorative effect. Therefore, this species to a greater extent shows all its best qualities, growing in areas with a warm climate.
Using
One hundred and fifty species of maple grow in the natural environment, most of which, including false-maple, have found wide application in the design of territories. This tree is highly decorative at any time of the year. In spring, the long flowering and bright coloring of young shoots are pleasing to the eye, in the summer - a lush crown, under the shadow of which you can hide from the sun. In the fall, nature itself repaints leaves in different colors. In winter, bark of unusual color attracts attention. Maple trees are planted individually and in groups, forming a hedge. The crown can be formed of any shape.
Maple wood is used to make furniture, sports equipment, musical instruments, and yellow and black paint. Maple is an excellent honey plant. The pollen collected from one tree during processing by bees gives ten kilograms of honey. Maple gives juice, which is used to make sugar syrup and sugar. Leaves are used to feed livestock and litter for it.
