California Sycamore Tree
The California Sycamore (P. racemosa, Nutt.) bears its button balls in a series of four to six strung on the tough, fibrous stem. The leaves have the same general outline as those of its Eastern relative, but the lobes are slenderly triangular, and deeply cleft by sinuses of about the same size and shape. This beautiful Western tree was long confused with P. occidentalis, for its bark is white, and in habit and size the two are similar. A comparison of the leaf and the fruit easily enables one to distinguish them.