SYCAMORE

16th March 2024

Photo Credit: chewmoor (landscape) & seven75 (leaf) (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

Madam, an hour before the worshiped sun

Peered forth the golden window of the east,

A troubled mind drove me to walk abraod,

Where underneath the grove of sycamore

That westward rooteth from this city side

So early walking did I see your son.

Towards him I made, but he was ‘ware of me

And stole into the covert of the wood.

BENVOLIO: Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1

SYCAMORE (Acer pseudoplatanus)

Sycamores appear three times in Shakespeare’s work: as Romeo’s hiding place, as a shade tree in Love’s Labours Lost and as the setting for the Willow song in Othello. Sycamores are thought to have been introduced to Britain within Shakespeare’s lifetime in the 1570s (although there is also a theory that they were introduced by the Romans). John Gerard (1597) says “the great Maple is a stranger in England, only it groweth in the walks and places of pleasure of noble men, where especially it is planted for the shadow sake, and under the name of Sycomore tree.”

Sycamores are large, trees native to Europe, with palmate leaves and familiar ‘helicopter’ fruits called ‘samaras’. They are grown in parks, cities and plantations but are also widely naturalised in the UK countryside. The wood can be used for furniture and other craft products.

More Information

BSBI Plant Atlas 2020: Acer pseudoplatanus

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Gerard, J. 1597 The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plants (1636 edition accessed via Archive.org)

Woodland Trust: Sycamore