148 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



It will be noticed in all these writers that they 

 speak so strongly of the shade-giving feature, but Evelyn 

 condemns the sycamore and declares that " it is much more 

 in reputation for its shade than it deserves ; for the 

 honey-dew leaves, which fall early, like those of the ash, 

 turn to mucilage and noxious insects, and putrify with 

 the first moisture of the season, so as they contaminate 

 and marr our walks, and are therefore, by my consent, 

 to be banished from all curious gardens and avenues." 



This tree that we call, and not quite happily, the 

 sycamore, is by some writers given the title of the great 

 maple ; as we have seen, for instance, in our quotation 

 from Gerard. To this title no objection can be raised, 

 for, foreigner though the tree be, it is a near relative of 

 the common and indigenous maple, the Acer campestre, a 

 much smaller tree. The botanical name of the sycamore 

 is Acer pseudo-platanus. Here, again, a difficulty in nomen- 

 clature is suggested, for we are reminded by the specific 

 name pseudo-plat anus ^ or false plane, that some folks, led 

 away by the similarity in form of the foliage of the two 

 trees, thought that the sycamore must be a kind of plane, 

 and so used either name as equally suitable.' In France 

 the Sycamore is called the fausse platane. 



The growth of the sycamore is somewhat stiff. The 

 main boughs spring in rigid and angular fashion from the 



1 Hieronymus Tragus, for instance, in his History of Plants, published in 

 1532, called the sycamore, p!ata?ius. He was a German, and his real name 

 was Jerome Bock. Bock signifies goat, and in accordance with the pedantic 

 fashion of that day. Latinising wherever possible, he became Tragus, as 

 the Swede, Carl von Linne, became Carolus Linnjeus. Still, when a man 

 wrote his treatise or book in Latin, it was only fit that his name should be 

 Latinised also. 



