CHAP. CVII. 



PLATANA CE^. PLA'TANUS. 



2043 



the head 60 ft. : in Yorkshire, at Grimston, 14 years planted, it is 45 ft. high. — In Scotland. In the en- 

 virons of Edinburgh, at Gosford House, 30 years old, it is 25 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. 3 in. in circum- 

 ference ; atBiel, it is 64 ft. high : in Banffshire, at Gordon Castle, 66ft. high, the diameter of the 

 trunk 3 ft. 2 in., and that of the head 64 ft. : in Ross-shire, at Brahan Castle, 50 ft. high, the diameter 

 of the trunk 2 ft., and of the head 40 ft. — In Ireland. South of Dublin : in Kilkenny, at Woodstock 

 Park, 70 years planted, it is 68 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft., and of the head 48 ft. : in 

 Tipperary, in Higgins's Nursery, Clonmel, SO years planted, it is 70 ft. high, thediameter of the trunk 

 3 ft., and that of the head 63 ft. jNorth of Dublin : in the county of Down, at Castle Ward, 80 years 

 planted, it is 32 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and that of the head 54 ft.: in Louth, at Oriel 

 Temple, 36 years planted, it is 34 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and that of the head 28 ft. 

 — In France, in the Jardin des Plantes, 130 years old, it is 74 ft. high, the diam.eter of the 

 trunk 3ft. Sin. — In Hanover, at Harbeke, 8 years planted, it is 7 ft. high; in the Botanic 

 Garden, Gottingen, 20 years planted, it is 121t. high — In Austria, at Vienna, in the University Bo- 

 tanic Garden, 35 years planted, it is 36 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 13 in. ; in Rosenthal'sNur- 

 sery, 20 years planted, it is 27 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft, and of the head 24 ft. ; at Briick 

 on the Leytha, 15 years old, it is 18 ft. high. — In Sweden, at Lund, in the Botanic Garden, 42 ft. high, 

 the diameter of the trunk 14 in., and that of the head 28 ft. — In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 

 29 years planted, it is 80 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and of the head 106 ft. 



Commercial Statistics. Plants raised from layers of the species, in the Lon- 

 don nurseries, are \s. each; and of P. o. cuneata, Is. 6rf. each: at BoU- 

 wyller, from 1 franc to 1 franc and 50 cents j and at New York, 50 cents. 



1^ at 2. P. occiDENTA^Lis L. The Western Plane. 



Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. 475. ; Hort. Cliff., 78. ; Roy Lugd., 7. ; Gron. Virg., 151. ; Kalm 

 It., 2. p. 198. ; Mill. Diet., No. 2. ; Du Roy Harbk., 2. p. 134. ; Medic, in Obs. Soc. CEcon. 

 Lutr., 1774, p. 239. ; N. Du Ham. 2. p. 5. 



Synonymes. P. occident&lis seu virginiensis Pari. Tfieatr., li^l., DuHam.Arb.,t.35.; Button- 

 wood, Water Beech, Sycamore, Cotton Tree, Amrr. ; Platanede Virginie, Fn 



Derivation. Button-wood refers to the smooth lound heads of flowers, which resemble the globular 

 buttons formerly in use, and still seen in some military costumes ; Sycamore to the resemblance of 

 the leaves to those of that tree; and Cotton Tree to the down detached in the course of the summer 

 from the leaves. 



Engravings. Cat. Carol., t. 56. ; Dend. Brit., t. 100. ; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 2. t. 63. ; owe fig. 1959.; 

 and the plate of this species in our last Volume, \nfig. 1959., a represents a transverse section of 

 the female catkin in flower ; 6, the same in fruit; c, the female flower and scale ; rf, the stamen 

 and scale; e, the longitudinal section of a seed; and/, an entire seed. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves 5-angled, 

 obsoletely lobed, dentate, wedge- 

 shaped at the base ; downy be- 

 neath. (JVi/ld.) A tree, a native 

 of Noi'th America, where it grows 

 to the height of 70 ft. or 80 ft. ; 

 with a widely spreading head. It 

 flowers in May; and ripens its 

 seeds in October. Introduced be- 

 fore 16.36. The Occidental plane 

 is easily distinguished from the Ori- 

 ental plane, by its leaves being 

 larger, and less deeply lobed (see 

 fig.l951.a.inp. 2033.); and by the 



red colour of their petioles; the petioles of P. orientalis being green, 

 fruit is, also, much larger, and rather smoother. 



Variety. 



^P. 0.2 toriudsaj Platane tortillard, Fr. — This variety, according to Bosc, was found by 

 Malesherbes in a bed of seedlings. The stem is full of knots, which render the fibres 

 tortuous, and, consequently, difficult to split, like those of the f/'lmus campcTstris tor- 

 tu6sa, mentioned in p. 1376. ; and, like that variety, it is thought to be suitable for the 

 naves of wheels. We have not heard of its being in cultivation in French nurseries. 

 In the Nouveau Du Hamcl, it is state*?, that M. Daubenton, fils, who raised many plants 

 of the Occidental platanus for seed, found the varieties almost infinite. 



Descrij)tion, S^c. The American, or Western, plane, in magnitude and general 

 appearance, bears so close a resemblance to the Oriental plane, that, by many 

 persons, they are confounded together. The former, however, is a larger tree; 

 of much more rapid growth than the Oriental plane ; with broader and less 

 deeply cut leaves, red petioles, and fruit comparatively smooth, and consider- 

 ably larger. The bark is said to scale off in larger pieces, and the wood to be 

 more curiously veined. In all other respects, the descriptive particulars of both 

 trees are the same. The rate of growth of P. occidentalis, when placed near 

 water, is so rapid, that in 10 years it will attain the height of 40 ft.; and a 

 tree in the Palace Garden at Lambeth, near a pond, in 20 years had at- 



The 



