P L A 



P L A 



calyx is a few small jags. The corolla scarcely 

 apparent : the stamina have oblong filaments, 

 thicker at top, coloured : anthers four-corner- 

 ed, growing round the filament at the lower 

 part — female flowers forming a globe, nume- 

 rous, on the same tree : the calyx has many very 

 small scales : the corolla has many petals, con- 

 cave, oblong, club-shaped: the pistillum many 

 awl-shaped germs, ending in awl-shaped styles ; 

 with a recurved stigma : there is no pericarpium : 

 fruits many, collected into a globe : the seed 

 roundish, placed on a bristle-shaped peduncle, 

 and terminated by the awl shaped style; with a 

 capillary pappus adhering to the base of the 

 seed. 



The species are : 1 . P. orientalls, Oriental 

 Plane Tree; 2. P. occidentalis, American Plane 

 Tree. 



The first has the stem tall, erect, and covered 

 with a smooth bark, which annually falls off; 

 it sends out many side branches, which are ge- 

 nerally a little crooked at their joints; the bark 

 of the young branches is of a dark brown, in- 

 clining to a purple colour; the leaves are placed 

 alternate, on foot-stalks an inch and a half long; 

 the leaves themselves are seven inches long and 

 eight broad, deeply cut into five segments, and 

 the two outer are slightly cut again into two 

 more ; these segments have many acute inden- 

 tures on their borders, and have each a strong 

 midrib, with many lateral veins running to the 

 sides; the upper side of the leaves is of a deep 

 green, and the under side pale. The flowers 

 come out upon long peduncles hanging down- 

 ward, each sustaining five or six round balls of 

 flowers; the upper, which are the largest, are 

 more than four inches in circumference; these 

 sit verv close to the peduncle. The flowers are 

 so small as scarely to be distinguished without 

 glasses ; they come out a little before the leaves, 

 which is in the beginning of June; and in warm 

 summers the seeds will ripen late in autumn, 

 and if left upon the trees will remain till spring, 

 when the balls fall to pieces, and the bristly 

 down which surrounds the seeds helps to trans- 

 port then) to a great distance with the wind. It 

 is a native of Asia. 



There are two varieties, as the Maple-leaved, 

 which has not its leaves so deeply cut as those 

 of the eastern plane: they are divided into five 

 segments, pretty deep, but are not lobed, like 

 those of the occidental plane. The petioles are 

 much longer than in either of the species, and 

 the upper surface of the leaves is rougher, so 

 that they might be taken for different sorts, if 

 it was not known that they rose from the same 

 seeds. 

 The Spanish Plane, which has larger leaves 



than either of the sorts, and are more di- 

 vided than those of the occidental, but not so 

 much as those of the oriental. Some of the 

 leaves arc cut into five, and others into three 

 lobes only ; these are sharply indented on the 

 edges, and are of a light green ; the footstalks 

 are short, and covered with a short down. This 

 is by some called the Middle Plane Tree, from the 

 leaves being of a shape between the two species. 



These are highly ornamental trees for plea- 

 sure-grounds. 



The second species grows to a large size, the 

 stem very straight, and of equal girth most part 

 of the length ; the bark is smooth, and annu- 

 ally falls off like that of the former; the branches 

 extend wide on every side ; the young ones 

 have a brownish bark, but the old ones a gray 

 bark; the footstalks of the leaves are three 

 inches long; the leaves are seven inches long, 

 and ten broad ; they are cut into three lobes or 

 angles, and have several acute indentures on 

 their borders, with three longitudinal midribs, 

 and many strong lateral veins. The leaves are 

 of a light screen on their upper side and paler on 

 their under. The flowers grow in round balls 

 like the former, but are smaller. The leaves 

 and flowers come out at the same time with 

 the former, and the seeds ripen in autumn. 

 It is a native of most parts of America. 



This is also an ornamental tree in the same 

 situations. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased by 

 seed, layers, and cuttings ; but principally in 

 the two last methods. 



The best season for sowing the seeds is au- 

 tumn, if they can be procured, otherwise in the 

 spring," upon a somewhat lightish, mellow soil : 

 the ground having been dug and raked, it should 

 be formed into four-feet wide beds, and the 

 seeds then scattered evenly on the surface, and 

 raked in, or with the back of a rake the earth 

 be previously trimmed off the surface near half 

 an inch deep into the alleys ; then sowing the 

 seed, and directly, with the rake turned the 

 proper way, drawing the earth evenly over the 

 seeds, and trimming the surface smooth, when 

 many of the plants will rise in spring, but pro- 

 bably not generally till the spring following. 

 When they are one or two years old, they should 

 be planted out in nursery-rows, two feet asunder, 

 and about half that distance in the lines ; to re- 

 main till of a proper size for being finally set 

 out. 



In the layer method, some stout plants must 

 be planted for stools, which in a year after must 

 be headed down near the bottom, that they may 

 throw out many shoots near the ground con- 

 venient for laying; which, in the autumn after 



