June 26, 1919] 



NATURE 



335 



tion, there are two sheets of specimens, collected by 

 Petiver about the same period, one of which, Herb. 

 Sloane, No. 149, folio 237 — two fine leaves of P. acerx- 

 folia — is labelled " Platanus media, n.d., Bobart, Ox." 

 It is possible that the original tree from which this 

 specimen was taken by Bobart was then living in the 

 Oxford Botanic Garden. As Plukenet describes this 

 plane as bearing large fruit-balls in 1700, it may 

 have been then thirty years old, which would give 

 the date of origin of P. acerifolia as 1670. 



This history synchronises well with the date of the 

 magnificent London plane, probably the oldest in 

 Europe, which is living in the Palace Garden at Ely, 

 and now measures no ft. high, the trunk being 23 ft. 

 in girth at 5 ft. above the ground. It was planted 

 by Gunning when he was bishop there between 1674 

 and 1684. Bishop Gunning spent some time at 

 Oxford before his appointment to the Ely diocese. 



The splendid London plane at the Ranelagh Club, 

 Barnes, is precisely of the same size as the Ely tree, 

 and is probably of the same age, both these trees 



I 



Fig. j.—P/atanus acerijolia. Kew. 



being apparently cuttings of the original tree, which 

 is postulated in this account to have been in the 

 Oxford Botanic Garden. There is no record of the 

 age of the Ranelagh Club tree. There are two other 

 immense London planes, probably coeval with the Ely 

 tree, namely, one at Peamore, near Exeter, and the 

 other at Woolbeding, Sussex; but no particulars of 

 their history can be obtained. 



On the Continent there are no examples of the 

 London plane approaching in size or age the line trees 

 at Elv and Barnes ; and no mention is made of it by 

 any Continental writer before 1703, when it was 

 briefly described by Tournefort. Since the latter date 

 the cultivation of the London plane has spread over 

 he Continent, and it is now common in towns in 

 Irance and Germany. In the United States, as stated 

 above, it is widely' cultivated as a street tree, but 

 almost invariably' under the erroneous name of 

 P. orientalis. The true P. orientalis is very rare in 

 America, and is never used for planting in streets. 



NO. 2591, VOL. 103] 



Various seedlings of the London plane have been 

 selected from time to time, and one of them, 

 P. pyramidalis, which originated on the Continent 

 about 1850, is now as commonly planted in the streets 

 of our towns as the true London plane. Another 

 seedling, P. hispanica, a beautiful tree resembling 

 the Occidental plane in foliage, was known in Eng- 

 land before 173 1, and must have come from seed of 

 one of the earliest London planes. The history of 

 P. hispanica is as follows : — Miller, in his " Dic- 

 tionary " (seventh edition published in 1759), mentions 

 in all four planes. The Occidental and Oriental 

 planes, he says, " are undoubtedly distinct species, but 

 there are two others in English gardens, which I 

 suppose to be varieties that have accidentally risen 

 from seed; one is titled the maple-leaved plane (P. 

 acerifolia), and the other is called the Spanish plane- 

 tree." He considered P. acerifolia to be a seminal 

 variety of P. o.rientalis, as seeds of a large Oriental 



Fig. 4.— London plane at Ely. 



plane in Chelsea Garden produced plants of this sort 

 I several times. His description of the Spanish plane 

 is unmistakable : " It has larger leaves than the other 

 sorts, more divided than those of the Occidental plane, 

 sharply indented in the edges, light green, foot-stalks 

 short and covered with a light down. It grows faster 

 than the other sorts, but I have not seen any very 

 large tree of this kind." He further states that he 

 planted four planes, one of each sort, in 1731. 



It would appear from this evidence that P. hispanica 

 originated some time before 173 1, and was probably a 

 seedling of one of the early London planes, which by 

 this time had been bearing seed for many years. This 

 beautiful tree has always been rare in cultivation^ 

 There are, however, two fine trees at Kew, which 

 have tall, straight stems, with ascending branches 

 above and pendulous branches below, liearing magni- 



