286 THE ORIENTAL PLANE. 



drooping heads, several together, appear with the leaves 

 in spring, and are succeeded by balls of seed, which are 

 much smaller than those of the other species, and remain 

 attached to the tree all the succeeding winter. By these 

 the tree may be distinguished when every leaf has dis- 

 appeared, as it may also be by the light-coloured irregular 

 patches on the trunk, occasioned by the shedding of the 

 bark described above. The seeds are imbedded in soft 

 bristly down, which, when the balls open, serves to waft 

 them away. 



LEAF AND FLOWER OF ORIENTAL PLANE. 



The Plane is now, as it was in Pliny's time, only valued 

 as an ornamental tree. Its wood is smooth-grained, and 

 susceptible of a high polish. Loudon says that it is not 

 much used in the West of Europe, but that in the Levant 

 and Asia it is employed in carpentry, joining, and cabinet- 

 making. It is yellowish-white till the tree attains a con- 

 siderable size ; after which it becomes brown, with jasper- 

 like veins ; and wood of this kind, being rubbed with oil, 

 and then highly polished, resembles the wood of the Walnut. 



