Side by side

London plane or sycamore? How to tell them apart

Platanus × hispanica · Acer pseudoplatanus

You can tell a London plane by its flaking camouflage bark, its alternate leaves and its hanging seed balls; a sycamore has leaves in opposite pairs, winged fruits and bark that only flakes off in plates on old trees.

The leaves look very alike: large and hand-shaped. Look at how they sit on the twig: alternate on the plane, in opposite pairs on the sycamore. On the plane, the hollow base of the leaf stalk covers the bud.

Updated on 12 October 2026

Photo: Anna reg, CC BY-SA 3.0 at · source

London plane Platanus × hispanica

Photo: MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus

London plane and sycamore side by side
	London plane	Sycamore
Leaves	Alternate, palmately lobed with 3–5 lobes, 12–25 cm. The base of the leaf stalk is hollow and encloses the bud.	Opposite, 10–20 cm, with 5 coarsely and irregularly toothed lobes; underside grey-green. Leaf stalk often red, without milky sap.
Flowering	May	Yellow-green flowers in hanging clusters, appearing with the leaves (May).
Fruit	Hanging balls 2–3 cm across, often in pairs, which break up in winter into fluffy seeds.	Winged fruits with wings at an acute to right angle.
Bark	Peels off in large patches, creating a mottled pattern of grey, green and yellow.	Grey, flaking in plates on older trees. Buds green.
Shape and height	Broadleaf tree, 25–40 m	Broadleaf tree, 25–35 m
Site	Full sun, any garden soil, normal	Sun or partial shade, any garden soil, normal
Native to Belgium	No, planted	No, naturalised
Good for bees, butterflies and birds	Little	Yes, for bees and birds
Poisonous to people and pets	Not known to be poisonous	Not known to be poisonous
Pruning months	November–March	July–October

The best feature in each season

Spring: The sycamore flowers in May with hanging spikes of yellow-green flowers; the plane has inconspicuous balls of flowers on long stalks.
Summer: The fruits tell you: hanging balls of 2–3 cm on a long stalk on the plane, winged seeds like little helicopters on the sycamore.
Autumn: The plane turns yellowish brown and keeps its seed balls into winter; the sycamore already sends its helicopters spinning away in autumn.
Winter: Without leaves the bark is unmistakable: large flaking patches in grey, green and yellow on the plane. The sycamore has green buds in opposite pairs, the plane brown buds alternating along the twig.

Where do they grow?

The London plane is a hybrid between the oriental plane and the American plane, and lines streets, squares and avenues: it copes very well with polluted city air. The sycamore comes from the mountains of central and southern Europe and has naturalised everywhere, in woods, hedgerows and gardens.

Which one for your garden?

Left to grow, both reach 25–40 m: only suitable for a park or an avenue. As a pleached or roof-trained tree, a plane does fit by a terrace, because it tolerates hard pruning.
For wildlife the sycamore is better: bees take nectar from its flowers. The plane offers little food, and the hairs of young leaves and the fluff of the fruits can irritate the airways. Near a horse paddock, do not plant a sycamore: its seeds and seedlings are poisonous to horses.

Did you know? In the 19th century the London plane was planted all over London because it coped with the soot and smog: by shedding its bark it keeps renewing its skin.

Read on

Also looks like

Identify by feature

All species that look alike