Sycamore trees, the contemporaries of dinosaurs

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. My kids say that I’m saving Los Angeles from wild fires ‘cause every time I go out to visit it pours down rain. On one of the few sunny days in my last trip we went to Malibu State Forest to hike. There I was reminded of home as sycamore trees were growing near the unusually full creek. These days as I drive to work going over the Congaree River the sycamores dramatically stand out with their white bark exposed. These trees are very old, showing up during the time of the dinosaurs, about 100 million years ago, making the mighty oak which evolved a mere seventy-five million years ago, seem like a youngster. But oaks are certainly more prolific in species. Worldwide oaks have over five hundred species –the lowly sycamore only ten.