Texas Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis var. glabrata) · Species Notes

Restoration Role

Large riparian canopy tree — the signature white-barked tree of Hill Country spring-fed streams. It wants periodic flooding without constant saturation, the regime of most of the drainage corridor, and grows fast into a wide canopy with cavity habitat as it ages.

Site Suitability

PrimaryRiver Conservation Strip, Drainage Corridor terraces, spring-fed reaches

SecondaryDeep alluvial pockets with reliable moisture

AvoidUplands, shallow caliche, permanently saturated core — it wants flooding that recedes

SoilsBeB, Oa, deep SuB

HydrologyPeriodic flooding on deep moist soil; poor in standing water

Propagation & Care

Seed collectionCollect the hanging seed balls in late fall to winter once brown and dry; break them apart for the achenes.

StratificationCold-moist stratify 60–90 days, or sow fresh in fall and let winter do it.

PropagationFrom seed: sow shallowly — barely covered — on moist media and keep evenly damp until germination. From cuttings: possible, but they strike less reliably than willow or cottonwood; seed is the practical route.

Container progressionSeed → Bootstrap Cell → D40 Deepot → Field planting.

Nursery wateringKeep consistently moist; sycamore is thirsty and will not tolerate drying out young.

LightFull sun.

OutplantingBest age 6–18 months. Plant November–February into moist ground.

Establishment Watering

Year 1: 15 gallons every 7–10 days during dry periods.
Year 2: 15 gallons every 2–3 weeks if dry.
Year 3: drought support near water.

Field notesGive it room and reliable moisture. Anthracnose can defoliate it in wet springs — usually cosmetic once established. Plant on terraces that flood and drain, not the standing-water core where buttonbush and willow belong. Taxonomy: the manual files it as Platanus occidentalis var. glabrata, the western Texas variety — verify rank and symbol against USDA PLANTS, as some treatments sink it into straight P. occidentalis.