Q: We are curious to know the identity of a tree we saw in a park, surviving the Southwest climate that has leaves that look like a maple and a round spiky seed pod. Can you tell us?

A sycamore is a grand, stately native tree with attractive, peeling white-and-gray bark and broad, shady leaves. Sadly, sycamores are sometimes affected by a disfiguring fungal disease called ...

It is also a very long-lived species — up to 500 years and more. Three-foot diameter trees are not uncommon, and these would ...