Question
There are several sycamore trees planted on the grounds where I work (in Maryland).  I would like to grow some sycamore trees to transplant on my property one day, and I am familiar with the appearance of the seeds from the tree.  However, on one of the large tree roots that is above ground at the base of the tree, there is what appears to be a small "sucker" branch that has been broken off by the landscape workers.  This morning I noticed a small tree-like plant growing from the small broken branch.  The odd thing is the leaves on the small plant don't look anything like the parent sycamore tree it is growing out of.  I also noticed several small trees growing in the mulch around several other sycamore trees.  All the leaves on the small tree-like plants growning in the mulch look like the one growing from the stem on the base of the larger adult tree.  Do the leaves on sapling sycamore trees (approx. 2-3" tall) look like full grown leaves?  Each of these young trees has about 6 or 7 small leaves on them.  I'd call their leaf shape a heart-shape or tear drop shape, and they definitely look like trees (not weeds for instance).  If these are saplings I could transplant them rather than start from seeds.  Thanks.

Answer
Hi Gail,
Thanx for your question.  This is a tree question better handled by a tree expert.  We have a tree expert here at Allexperts.  His name is Jim Hyland and he has a lot of years of experience with the U.S. Forestry Service.  You can access Jim by going back to Home/Gardening and click on Trees and then click on Trees again.  I hope this helps.
Tom