American sycamore
Platanus occidentalis
A genus split is not a placement verdict.
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American sycamore is not consistently rated fire resistant; two guides favor it, while four place it in moderate or medium bands.
The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension names sycamore among trees and shrubs that work well in defensible space. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension lists American sycamore as fire resistant, explaining that plants in this category tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained and are not fireproof.
The more cautious ratings agree across several scales. The USDA Forest Service and state Firewise programs rate American sycamore Moderately Firewise, the second level of a four-point scale, and identify its large leaves and exfoliating bark as plentiful fire fuel. NC State University assigns medium flammability on its four-level scale. Ohio State University Extension gives it M, the middle of five bands, while Virginia Cooperative Extension also gives it M on a three-point scale of forest-fire proneness.
These findings describe a high-water tree that reaches about 75 feet at maturity, not a reliably low-flammability choice. The favorable guidance supports using a maintained, irrigated American sycamore in defensible landscaping, but the repeated moderate and medium ratings make “fire resistant” too broad as an unqualified description.
- Form
- tree
- Mature height
- ~75 ft
- Light
- Full sun
- Water need
- high
- Rated in
- Kentucky; NC; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US +4
