202 PLATANUS 



repealed by nearly every writer since. There is no proof of this, for 

 atmospheric influences do not affect branches large enough to shed their 

 bark, but rather the leaves and other breathing parts of the tree. It is 

 remarkable that a tree which, by descent at least, belongs to the sun-baked 

 isles of Greece should be able to adapt itself so completely to the pavements 

 and atmosphere of London. Messrs Elwes and Henry suggest that it may 

 be a seedling variation of P. orientalis, a view supported by the existence 

 of forms intermediate in leaf. The difference in habit, for it is a taller, cleaner 

 grown tree, requires more explanation. A continental authority regards it as 

 a hybrid between P. orientalis and P. occidentalis. 



There are some very fine trees near London ; at Ranelagh is one whose 

 height in 1903 was 105 ft., and its girth 20 ft. 4 ins. (Elwes). A fine specimen 

 stands near the northern end of the Rhododendron dell at Kew. In a 

 small state the London plane is somewhat formal and without distinction, 

 but nothing in our gardens is more majestic than a fully-grown tree. It 

 ripens its seeds in this country, and young plants raised from them show 

 considerable variation, and at least half a dozen have been named. The 

 characteristics of the following (whether constant or not is perhaps doubtful) 

 are indicated by the names : INTEGRIFOLIA (scarcely lobed) ; MACROPHYLLA 

 (large-leaved) ; PYRAMIDALIS (of pyramidal habit). 



Var. SUTTNERI (P. occidentalis argenteo-variegata) is a handsome, varie- 

 gated tree, its leaves being conspicuously blotched with creamy white ; 

 sometimes almost wholly of that colour. It is far from being as robust as 

 the type. 



P. CUNEATA, Willdenow. 



(P. orientalis var. cuneata, London; P. nepalensis, HortC) 



By some writers this tree is considered to be a variety of the Oriental 

 plane, and it is no doubt closely allied to it. It differs in the leaves being 

 three-lobed as well as five-lobed, with the base wedge-shaped and tapering 

 gradually to a stalk ; they are also smaller, usually 3 to 6 ins. long and wide, 

 occasionally half as long again. The tree is not so large, vigorous, or hardy 

 as P. orientalis. Young plants raised at Kew from seed obtained from the 

 north-western Himalaya (where it is probably only cultivated) are stunted, 

 very slow-growing, and subject to injury by spring frosts ; they have a narrow, 

 pyramidal habit. The typical P. cuneata rarely bears fruit near London, and 

 is scarcely worth a place in gardens, but there are forms intermediate between 

 it and P. orientalis that make handsome small trees. 



P. OCCIDENTALIS, Linnceus. BUTTONWOOD. 



One of the most widely spread and persistent of errors connected with the 

 identity of trees has centred round this species. There is probably not a 

 single specimen of the true thing in the British Isles with a trunk 3 ins. in 

 diameter yet scores of nurserymen still offer it in their catalogues. The tree 

 they offer, and the tree discussed by Loudon and other writers under the 

 name, is P. acerifolia, or the common London plane. The true P. occidentalis 

 is a native of the southern and eastern United States, where, in the region of 

 the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it grows 140 to 170 ft. in height, with a trunk 

 30 ft. in girth. It differs from P. acerifolia in the leaves being only shallowly 

 lobed, with a wide, roundish sinus between the lobes. Then the tree very 

 rarely bears more than one ball of fruits on each stalk (the European 

 ones have two to six), and the surface of the ball is smoother and, less burr- 

 like than in acerifolia or orientalis. From what has been said above, it will 

 be gathered that the species has no value in British gardens. It has many 



