200 PLAGIANTHUS PLATANUS 



P. PULCHELLUS, A. Gray. 



An evergreen shrub or tree. Leaves ovate, with a heart-shaped base, 

 2^ to 4^ ins. long, green both sides, coarsely and irregularly toothed, often 

 with two lateral lobes near the base ; leaf-stalk slender, half as long as the 

 blade. When young, the leaves and young wood are dotted with stellate 

 hairs. Flowers produced on short racemes or singly, white, each in. across. 



Native of S. Australia. Of the species of Plagianthus here dealt with, 

 this has least merit in this country, whatever it may have in its own. It is 

 a quick grower and flowers in July, but its blossoms have little of the beauty 

 of P. Lyallii, nor has it shown the graceful and distinct growth of P. betulinus. 

 It is also tender, and only hardy in mild districts. 



P. LAMPENII, Bentham, is nearly allied to the above, but more ornamental, 

 and distinguished by the greater hairiness of the younger parts. It has 

 dullish white, fragrant flowers, about the size of those of pulchellus, but borne 

 in longer racemes. It has flowered with Mr T. Smith of Newry, and, by him 

 was described as hardy against a wall, and very free-flowering. Native of 

 Tasmania. 



PLANERA AQUATICA, Gmelin. WATER ELM. URTICACE^E. 



A deciduous tree, 30 to 45 ft. high, with a trunk 15 to 20 ins. in 

 diameter; young shoots thin, downy. Leaves alternately arranged in 

 opposite ranks, ovate or oval, i to 3 ins. long, about half as wide, 

 toothed (sometimes doubly so), scurfy downy beneath when young, 

 ultimately harsh to the touch on both surfaces; veins about ten each 

 side the midrib, forked near the margin ; stalk \ to \ in. long. Flowers 

 greenish, very small and inconspicuous, usually unisexual, sometimes 

 bisexual, both sorts being found on the same tree. Males borne in few- 

 flowered clusters, each one composed of a four-, sometimes five-lobed 

 calyx with a corresponding number of stamens ; females longer-stalked, 

 borne one to three together in the leaf-axils of small lateral twigs. Fruit 

 nut-like, J in. in diameter, covered with elongated, wart-like excrescences, 

 and containing one seed. 



Native of the south-eastern United States, where it is frequently found 

 in swamps. From its allies, Ulmus and Celtis (the foimer of which it 

 resembles in foliage), it differs in the nut-like, tubercled fruit. Two or 

 three trees sent from the Missouri Botanic Garden to Kew in 1897 

 thrive quite well in ordinary loamy soil, but the tree is extremely rare 

 in cultivation. What is found usually under the name is Zelkova crenata, 

 a Caucasian tree. 



PLATANUS. PLANE. PLATANACE^:. 



The planes are very distinct from any other group of trees, constituting 

 in themselves a natural order. In foliage they bear some resemblance to 

 the maples, but the leaves are alternate. The flowers are unisexual, both 

 sexes occurring on the same tree. The most characteristic feature of the 

 planes is the production of the seed-vessels (achenes) in spherical balls, 



