PLATAN US. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PLATYCODOX. 723 



evergreen and P. Mayi is also a very 

 pretty evergreen at Castlewellan and 

 other gardens in districts with a climate 

 allowing of the cultivation of the half 

 hardy evergreens. 



PLATANUS (Plane]. Stately sum- 

 mer-leafing trees of the East and America, 

 of rapid and vigorous growth and high 

 value in the warmer parts of our islands 

 as shade, lawn, or avenue trees ; thriving 

 too in the centre even of smoke polluted 

 cities as in many of the squares in west 

 and central London, and not merely 

 existing, as most trees do in such condi- 

 tion, but attaining much beauty of form 

 and dignity there, as in Berkeley Square 

 and Lincoln's Inn Fields. Here the 

 great trees, getting out of the gardeners' 

 way, or any attack of pruners or self- 

 appointed tree-architects, assume their 

 true and natural form, and are very fine 

 whether in summer or winter. Where 

 the Plane is used in the streets of London, 

 however, as on the Thames Embankment 

 the costly and wasteful labour of pruning 

 the trees to one ugly shape is carried out. 

 The Planes are easily increased by cut- 

 tings and layers, but planters should in 

 all cases avoid them, as they cannot 

 expect from such beginnings the fine 

 rapid, natural growth and true form of 

 the tree. The Plane which thrives best 

 in London, or what is often called the 

 London Plane, is not (as it used to be 

 thought) the American or Western Plane, 

 but the Eastern plane or one of its forms 

 of which the accepted name is now aceri- 

 folia, a name with many synonyms. The 

 true Western Plane, P. occidentalis, is 

 rarely seen in Europe outside of botanical 

 gardens, and, when it is, it has little of 

 the beautiful vigour of the Oriental Plane 

 in our country. The name Orientalis is 

 still kept up for a deeply cut leaved form 

 of Plane, but it is not really distinct as a 

 species from the London Plane. P. 

 cuneata is an Eastern species with deeply 

 cut leaves, but it may be taken for all 

 planting ends that the vigorous London 

 Plane is the Eastern Plane no matter by 

 what name it is called. The Plane, being 

 a tree of vast distribution in the East, 

 accounts for the origin and distribution of 

 the various forms, mainly differing in the 

 shape and lobing of the leaves. While 

 the tree attains its greatest growth in 

 Southern Italy and south-eastern Europe 

 generally, it is a noble tree in the southern 

 parts of England, attaining its best size, 

 height and form in good valley soils, and 

 there are many fine examples of it in the 

 Thamas Valley. There is a peculiarity 

 of the bark in scaling off in large irregular 



patches, which leads to rather a striking 

 effect, and is in no way harmful to the 

 tree. The Greeks and Romans used it 

 much as a shade tree near their public 

 buildings, and from all recorded time it 

 has been much planted in Persia. As 



Platanus orientals. 



yet this tree has been little used in our 

 woodlands, though it certainly deserves a 

 place in them, especially in those on the 

 alluvial soils. 



PLATYCODON (Broad Bell-flower}. 

 P. grandiflorum, sometimes called Cam- 

 panula grandiflora, is a handsome Siberian 

 perennial, hardy in light dry soils, but im- 

 patient of damp and undrained situations, 

 where its thick fleshy roots are sure to de- 

 cay. Sometimes the decay commences be- 

 low and spreads upward, but it generally 

 begins above and spreads downward, the 

 plant rotting off at the neck. The flowers 

 are 2 to 3 in. across, deep blue with a slight 

 slaty shade, and in clusters at the end of 

 each branch. The branches are 18 in. 

 high, and very slender at the base, so that 

 if unsupported in their early stage of 

 growth, they will fall to the ground, and 

 the plant look untidy. Such neglect will 

 be almost impossible to repair when the 

 flowers are nearly developed, as branch 

 after branch will break away in tying. It 

 is better to leave them alone, merely 

 pegging down the branches to prevent 

 breakage by wind. Perhaps the best 

 position for the plant would be overhang- 

 ing a ledge in some sunny corner of the 

 rock-garden, where its negligent growth is 

 in keeping with the situation, and its 

 flowers, being on a level with the eye, are 

 shown to advantage. Like most Cam- 

 panulas it has a tendency to revert from 

 blue to white through various modifica- 

 tions. Equally pretty is the white variety, 

 3 A 2 



