TREE FORMS. 45 



gradation from bole to limbs, from these to their 

 branches, and from branches to twigs and spray. 

 The peculiar and well-known peeling from the 

 trunk, and from the larger limbs, of the bark 

 further adds to the striking and interesting aspect 

 of this tree. The author of ' Forest Scenery,' 

 speaking of the two species of Plane with which 

 he was familiar the Occidental and Oriental 

 Planes, describes them as 'noble trees;' of the 

 first named he says : * Its stem is very 

 picturesque. It is smooth and of a light ash 

 colour, and has the property of throwing off its 

 bark in scales, thus naturally cleansing itself 

 at least, its larger boughs from moss and other 

 parasitical incumbrances. This would be no 

 recommendation of it in a picturesque light, if 

 the removal of these incumbrances did not 

 substitute as great a beauty in their room. These 

 scales are very irregular, falling off sometimes in 

 one part and sometimes in another; and as the 

 underbark immediately after its excoriation is of 

 a lighter hue than the upper, it offers to the pencil 

 those smart touches which have so much effect 

 in painting. These flakes, however, would be 



