Invasiveness Assessment - Sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus) in Victoria
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Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.
| Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here. |
The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Sycamore maple.
A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1026 KB)
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Common Name: Sycamore maple
Scientific Name: Acer pseudoplatanus
| Question | Comments | Rating | Confidence |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Germination is reported to occur in spring (Muyt 2001). | MH | MH |
| Establishment requirements? | Tolerant of some shade, is naturally a gap coloniser, preferring moist soil (Weber 2003). Seeds can germinate under dense shade (Blood 2001). | MH | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Invasive in woodland, forest and riparian vegetation (Muyt 2001). | MH | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Other; Deciduous tree (Muyt 2001). | L | MH |
| Allelopathic properties? | The decomposing leaves of Acer species are reported to have inhibitory properties while decomposing and then stimulatory compounds when decomposed (Rice 1984). | MH | MH |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | Seedlings are sensitive to grazing (Blood 2001). Can coppice if damaged (Muyt 2001). 86% of young trees in a plantation in Europe were reported to be damaged by voles, which strip the bark form the lower stem and can kill the tree (Evans et al 2006). Once more than 30 cm tall, seedlings are reported capable of surviving severe browsing events (Harmer 2001). As a mature tree the species is reported to sustain herbivory from aphids and other insects with some effect on the plants reproductive capacity (Leather 2000). | MH | MH |
| Normal growth rate? | Reported to be one of the fastest growing hardwood trees of Europe (Cronk & Fuller 1995) | H | MH |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Tolerant of frost (Blood 2001). Reported as having some tolerance to salinity (Paludan-Müller et al 2002). Can coppice if damaged (Muyt 2001). This may suggest an ability to recover after fire. Reported to occur in areas of waterlogged soil (Iszkulo et al 2005; Kelly & Iremonger 1997). Trees reported to have sustained damage after a sever drought (Morecroft & Roberts 1999). Is highly vulnerable to cavitations under drought conditions (Lemoine, Peltier & Marigo 2001). | MH | MH |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Reproduces sexually, pollinated by insects, then produces seed (Blood 2001). | ML | MH |
| Number of propagules produced? | Produces up to 10,000 seeds annually (Weber 2003) | H | MH |
| Propagule longevity? | In Europe it is reported that no persistent seedbank develops as mass germination takes place in spring. It is not known whether a seedbank could accumulate in Australia (Muyt 2001). | M | L |
| Reproductive period? | In Europe the species is reported to live for 400 years (Muyt 2001). | H | MH |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | Usually reaches maturity within 5 and 10 years (Muyt 2001). The juvenile period is 20-25 years (Weber 2003). While there is conflicting data on time taken to reach maturity, the minimum still appears to be five years or more. | L | MH |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | Seed dispersal is via wind and water (Muyt 2001). | MH | MH |
| How far do they disperse? | With water as a dispersal agent, seeds are capable of being dispersed distances greater than 1 km (Vogt, Rasran & Jensen 2004). | L | MH |
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