Other Names: Buttonwood; Plane-tree.

 Large tree sometimes more than 100 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 8 feet; crown broad, often irregular.

 Reddish‑brown when young, quickly breaking into thin, flat scales, falling away in sections to expose large patches of whitish or greenish inner bark.

 Smooth, light brown, somewhat zigzag; leaf scars alternate, encircling the buds, somewhat elevated, with 5 to7 bundle traces. 

: Light brown, pointed, about one-fourth inch long, entirely covered by the baw of the leafstalk. When the leaves fall off, exposing the bud , they leave a sear which surrounds the base of each bud.

 Alternate, simple; blades circular in outline but divided into 3 or 5 shallow, sharp‑pointed lobes, heart‑shaped or cut straight across at the base, up to 7 inches long (longer on vigorous shoots) and often as broad, bright green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and smooth on the lower surface except for the sparsely hairy veins; leafstalks to 5 inches long, slightly hairy; stipules, resembling the leaves but only about an inch long, often persist near the base of the leafstalks.

Starninate and pistillate flowers borne separately but on the same tree, minute, crowded together in dense, round heads

 Round light brown heads, about one inch in diameter, on long drooping stalks, containing many small seeds surrounded by hairs. 

 The large , wide as notebook paper, palmately lobed leaves and the brown and gray mottled  bark readily distinguish this tree. 

 Bottomlands, along streams, around lakes and ponds.

  All areas of the park.

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  Tree species facts from Robert Mohlenbrock , Forest Trees of Illinois , 1996