384 DECIDUOUS TREES. 



THE FERN-LEAVED LINDEN, T. larianata, is curious on account 

 of its shredded leaves. Of its habit of growth as it matures we 

 cannot speak. 



All these beautiful or curious varieties may be readily grafted 

 or budded on our basswood, so that persons having one or more 

 trees of the latter may, without marring the general contour of the 

 tree, test and compare the varied foliage of the different varieties 

 of linden. 



THE PLANE-TREE. Platanus. 



THE SYCAMORE OR AMERICAN PLANE TREE. P. ocridentalis. 

 There are but two species of the plane tree, and these differ con- 

 siderably in their characters. One of them is our native sycamore 

 or buttonwood, well known by its smooth and scaly gray bark, 

 which, detaching itself in laminate pieces, reveals a whiter bark 

 beneath, and gives the trunk and branches a spotted or spangled 

 appearance. Occasionally the older bark scales entirely from some 

 of the branches, leaving them nearly as white as those of the white 

 birch. It is one of the largest and most rapid in growth of Ameri- 

 can forest trees, and, previous to the discovery of the great trees 

 of California and Oregon, its trunk was the most colossal vegeta- 

 tion familiar to Americans. One has been cut measuring forty- 

 seven feet in circumference ; and there was formerly a tree at Jef- 

 ferson, Cayuga County, N. Y., with a hollow interior fifteen feet in 

 diameter two feet from the ground 1 The enormous expansion of 

 the trunk is one of its peculiarities, exceeding that of any other tree 

 east of the Rocky Mountains. This characteristic disposes it to 

 become hollow, yet to increase healthily on its trunk shell like the 

 curious old chestnuts of Mount ^tna. The leaves are double the 

 size, and resemble in outline those of the sugar maple, but are 

 thinner, of a lighter green, have more strongly-marked ribs, and are 

 rarely glossy. 



Notwithstanding the grand character of the sycamore, it is little 

 esteemed of late years for decorative purposes. Aside from the 

 fact that it is too large and rank a tree for small places, its diseases 

 have done much to discourage its planting. The wood is subject 



