THE SYCAMORE TREE AND ZACCHAEUS.

Described as a short man, Zacchaeus, at Jericho, climbed up a Sycamore Tree so that he might be able to see Jesus as He passed by. When Jesus reached the spot He looked up into the branches, addressed Zacchaeus by name, and told him to come down, for He intended to visit his house. (Luke 19).
Unlike the common Fig-Tree, the Sycamore is a strong hardy evergreen tree that grows up to 14m/45ft tall, very similar to the hight of the Walnut Tree and may live for several hundred years. While its heart-shaped leaves are smaller than those of the Fig-Tree, and fragrant, and also resembling those of the Mulberry-Tree; hence it is called the Fig-Mulberry Tree, the foliage is thick. It has wide-spreading branches that provide a delightful shade.
The Sycamore Tree is easily destroyed by Frost (Psalm 78:47), and it is mentioned as one of the heaviest of Egypt's calamities that her Sycamore Trees that grew abundantly in the Shephelah were destroyed by hailstones. (1Chronicles 27). In addition to growing in the Jordan Valley (Luke 19) and around Tekoa (Amos 7), the Sycamore Trees were especially abundant in the lowlands of the Shephelah (1Kings 10; 2Chronicles 1; 9), frequently planted along the roadsides where the climate is mild. The short, stout trunk soon branches out with its lower limbs close to the ground, and this made it a convenient tree for a small man like Zacchaeus to select as the one he would climb along the roadside to get a clear view of Jesus.
This tree mentioned in the Scripture has no relation to the North American Sycamore (Acer pseudo-platanus), which is a type of maple often called a plane-tree.
The Sycamore, in Egypt and Palestine, is a tree of a very great value and importance because of its wood and of its fruit and has a very extensive use.
The wood is somewhat soft and porous and quite inferior to that of the cedar, but it was very durable and much used in building. (Isaiah 9). Mummy coffins made of Sycamore wood have been found in Egyptian tombs and are still in good condition after some three thousand years.
During the Time of the 10 Plagues, the trees were very abundant and up to today the tree continue to provide a source of food there.
The Fruit grows directly from the trunk itself on little sprigs, and in abundant clusters, like grapes, and are smaller  and hard to ripe comparing to the ones of the common Fig-Tree. It is the present practice of Egyptians growers of the Sycamore (Fig-Mulberry) Trees to pierce the premature fruit 3 or 4 days before gathering with a nail or other sharp instrument in order to accelerate the ripening process. If this is not done the fruit will secrete a quantity of watery juice and will not ripen. The Sycamore Fig of Biblical times was fertilized by wasps. The prophets Amos (7) and Jeremiah (42) refers of its Fruit. This sheds light on the occupation of the prophet Amos who was, by profession, a dresser of Sycamore Figs (Amos 7). The original employment of these type of Sycamore Trees, as the prophet Amos mentions, whose fruit King David considered of sufficient value to place the Shephelah groves under the care of an administrative chief, as he did for the Olive Trees (1Chronicles 27).
Modern Sycamores Trees now produce seedless figs and grow only in cultivated form.