THE PLANES. 



Plat' anus orienta'lis L., and P. occidenta'lis L. 



Lord Chancellor Bacon's contribution to the 

 progress of modern science is still, to some 

 extent, a matter of controversy. If, however, the 

 tradition that it is to him we owe the introduc- 

 tion of the Plane-tree into England were well 

 founded, there can be no doubt that for this 

 alone we should owe him much gratitude, especi- 

 ally in London. 



The genus Platanus, which undoubtedly derives 

 its name from the Greek ifkarv^, broad, in reference 

 either to its broad leaves or to its spreading shade 

 is, according to the best authorities, almost the 

 sole representative of a very isolated type of cat- 

 kin-bearing trees, the five or six forms which it 

 includes constituting a distinct Natural Order, the 

 Platana'cece, though they may be related to 

 Liquidambar. They are trees which commonly 

 reach a considerable height, up to even a hundred 

 feet ; with nearly cylindrical stems in old speci- 

 mens of enormous girth and with wide-spreading 

 branches. It was probably with reference to the 

 general outline of the Oriental Plane that Spenser, 

 in his " Faerie Queenc " (1589), borrowing his epithet, 

 no doubt, as was his wont, from some classical 

 authority, speaks of " the Platane round." 



The manner in which the bark flakes off in 



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