Type genus of the Aceraceae; trees or shrubs having winged fruit; Also called: genus Acer.

ETYM as. mapolder, mapulder, mapol; akin to Icel. möpurr; cf. Old High Germ. mazzaltra, mazzoltra, German massholder.
Deciduous tree of the genus Acer, family Aceraceae, with lobed leaves and green flowers, followed by two-winged fruits, or samaras. There are over 200 species, chiefly in northern temperate regions.
About 12 species are native to North America. The North American sugar maple a. saccharum is a source of maple syrup. a. campestre and a. pseudoplatanus, the sycamore or great maple, are native to Europe.
The European plane tree—sometimes erroneously called sycamore—has been introduced worldwide.
1. Any of numerous trees or shrubs of the genus Acer bearing winged seeds in pairs; north temperate zone.
2. Wood of any of various maple trees; especially the hard close-grained wood of the sugar maple; used esp. for furniture and flooring.

ETYM Latin sycomorus, Greek, the fig mulberry.
Or plane tree; Any of several Eurasian trees of the genus Platanus of the family Plantanaceae. Species include the oriental plane tree P. orientalis, a favorite of the Greeks and Romans; the American sycamore P. occidentalis of the eastern US; and the Arizona sycamore P. wrightii.
All species have pendulous burrlike fruits and some grow to 100 ft/30 m high.
1. Eurasian maple tree with pale gray bark that peels in flakes like that of a sycamore tree; leaves with five ovate lobes yellow in autumn; SYN. great maple, scottish maple, Acer pseudoplatanus.
2. Thick-branched wide-spreading tree of Africa and adjacent southwestern Asia often buttressed with branches rising from near the ground; produces cluster of edible but inferior figs on short leafless twigs; the Biblical sycamore.
3. Variably colored and sometimes variegated hard tough elastic wood of a sycamore tree; SYN. lacewood.

ETYM Old Eng. lorel, laurer, lorer, Old Fren. lorier, laurier, French laurier, (assumed) Late Lat. Laurarius, from Latin laurus.
Any evergreen tree of the European genus Laurus, family Lauraceae, with glossy, aromatic leaves, yellowish flowers, and black berries. The leaves of sweet bay or poet’s laurel l. nobilis are used in cooking. Several species are cultivated worldwide.
California laurel Umbellularia californica of the W us belongs to a different genus in the laurel family.
Any of various aromatic trees of the laurel family.

The emblem of Canada.