149 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



will serve to identify it at any season the pale yellow patches 

 on the trunk of the Plane caused by its constant shedding of 

 flakes of bark. In the autumn, too, there is a striking contrast 

 between the winged samaras of Acer and the ball-fruits of 

 Platanus. Acer, again, has the leaves opposite, whilst in 

 Platanus they are alternate. 



The Planes are lofty trees (sixty to eighty feet), with thick 

 cylindrical trunks, wide-spreading branches and abundant 

 foliage. The leaves are five-lobed, with a few coarse teeth, and 

 smooth surface. The flowers of both sexes are in globular 

 clusters and borne on the same tree, but on separate branches. 

 The male flowers have a perianth of four narrow leaves 

 alternating with the stamens. The female flowers consist of a 

 one-seeded ovary with a curved style, one side of which is 

 stigmatic. Flowers April and May. 



P. occidentalis, the Western Plane, is very similar, but its 

 leaves have red stalks, and are less deeply lobed and toothed ; 

 its bark scales less. 



Platanus is the old Greek name for the Plane-tree, and is 

 probably derived from Platos, breadth, in allusion to the broad 

 leaves or the ample shade afforded by its branches. 



The Birch (Betula alba}. 



The most graceful of our native trees is the White or Silver 

 Birch. It is the very antipodes among trees of the solid 

 unbending oak. The slim stem, scarcely ever a foot in 

 diameter, tapers away almost to nothing at a height of fifty or 

 sixty feet. This is at full maturity at forty or fifty years ; there- 

 after it makes little progress, and it is believed not to reach 

 far beyond its hundredth year. It has the singular reputation for 

 producing a bark that is more enduring than its timber. In spite 

 of its effeminate grace it is a most hardy tree, and stands alone 

 on the bleakest hillsides, and is the only tree that endures the 



