Today’s tree for National Tree Week is Sycamore
Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus
A type of maple Sycamores were introduced to the UK from Central Europe somewhere before 1500 CE. As kids we called the seed helicopters or whirligigs as the double seed and veins spin in the air as they drop, presumable to disperse them further from the parent. They seem to germinate easily. My neighbour-but-one has a large Sycamore and I am sick of more and more of its seeds germinating in my plot. The trouble is that they seem to find hidden corners and by the time I discover them the plant is two feet tall and the very devil to dig out. I simply don’t have space for large trees.
Near the foot of this particular tree was a fungi that is new to me.
Freckled Dapperling Echinoderma asperum