Box Canyon Sycamores

Plantanus wrightii (Arizona Sycamore)
The six trees in this photo are of a group of twelve growing closely together, resulting in the ones on the outside leaning to the extreme reaching for sunlight.
This photo was made at the locally-known "Upper Box" which has the largest river in Southwest New Mexico flowing through it. The Gila River of the Gila Wilderness originates in the Mogollon Highlands of Southwestern New Mexico and twists through the long upper box to the Cliff Valley. The river flows through old-growth cottonwood and sycamore that are hundreds of years old.

The origin of the Sycamore was in the Sonoran desert in riparian washes and canyon bottoms between 2,000 and 6,000 feet in elevation in Arizona, New Mexico and northwestern old Mexico.

The Arizona sycamore is a large, spreading, deciduous tree up to 70 ft. tall, with beautifully arched, white branches. The bark is very attractive and striking, smooth gray-green when young but quickly begins to exfoliate into large jigsaw puzzle shaped pieces revealing nearly white inner bark, on larger trees the bark becomes thicker gray-brown, scaly and slightly furrowed.

Studies of growth rings in trees indicated that P. wrightii seedlings establish episodically in New Mexico. Long intervals (10-40 years) elapsed with no apparent establishment. Seedling establishment years were positively associated with winter flood size, plus how high the water table was to the surface during the year.

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