The American sycamore is a wide-canopied, deciduous tree, usually 75-100 ft. tall, with a massive trunk and open crown of huge, crooked branches. The bark of large, old trunks sloughs off in scales or plates leaving a smooth, whitish inner bark. Leaves broadly ovate or broader, blade often wider than long, long pointed. Globular fruits often persist through December. Large, medium- to dark-green, maple-shaped leaves turn brown in fall.A shade tree, Sycamore grows to a larger trunk diameter than any other native hardwood. The present champion’s trunk is about 11 feet (3.4 m) in diameter; an earlier giant’s was nearly 15 feet (4.6 m). The hollow trunks of old, giant trees were homes for chimney swifts in earlier times.