Plane simple - how to tell a sycamore, a Norway maple and a London plane apart
We have three trees in the UK that look superficially very similar. They are Acer pseudoplatanus - the sycamore Acer platanoides - the Norway maple Platanus x hispanica (a.k.a. Platanus x acerifolia ) - the London plane All three trees have pretty wide, palmate (in the shape of a hand) leaves with more or less pointy tips, and they all grow to roughly a similar height. For this reason, they can sometimes be hard to tell apart. I'm gently reminding my children of the differences each time we pass one, but often my four-year-old daughter will point to a London plane and declare that it's a sycamore! Are they really that similar? Now I should say that I have seen a fair few people pronounce adamantly that these three trees cannot be confused with each other, particularly the London plane with the others. And, indeed, when you know what to look for, it's easy to tell the plane apart. But the fact that the trees are easily confused is testified to in both their common and th