Also called Arizona planetree. Botanical synonym : P. racemosa

Habitat: Riparian areas of canyons and various drainages.

Flowers: green, rounded, ball-like flowerheads. 2 to 4 in a cluster. Spherical, brown seed heads are on up to 8 inch long stalks.

Description Large tree 40 to 80 feet in height, with large trunk to 4 feet or more in diameter and with large spreading branches and broad open crown. Leafstalks II/2 to 3 inches long, stout, the enlarged base enclosing the bud. Leaves slightly star-shaped, large, 6 to 10 inches long and wide, heart-shaped at base, deeply divided into usually 5 or 3 (or 7) narrow, long-pointed lobes, the edges mostly without teeth, thin and firm, light green and hairless above, beneath pale and hairy. Flowers male and female, in clusters of usually 2 to 4 balls, in March and April. Fruit of 2 to 4 stalked balls % to 1 inch in diameter, along a stalk 6 to 8 inches long. Bark of branches smooth, thin, whitish ; bark of largest branches and trunk smoothish and peeling off in brownish flakes, on large trunks becoming thick, dark gray, and deeply and irregularly divided into thick plates. Wood light brown.

Distribution Common along streams and rocky canyons in foothills and mountains, upper desert, desert grassland, and oak woodland zones, 2,000 to 6,000 feet elevation. New Mexico: south-western corner, from Black Range and Mogollón Mountains southwestward. Arizona : southeastern and central parts, west to Santa Cruz and Pima Counties and northwest in central part to Mogollón Rim, southern Coconino County, Yavapai County, and southeastern Mohave County. Also local in southeastern California and in Sonora and Chihuahua, northern Mexico.

Arizona sycamore, one of the largest and handsomest deciduous tree species in Arizona, is valuable in preventing erosion along stream banks.