PRUNUS. PLANE 175 



with rounded crowns of spreading sub-erect branches, and 

 forming suckers, but they are often shrubby (see p. 233). 



In addition to their lack of glandular hairs, and the 

 spiral, instead of distichous, arrangement of the buds, 

 leaf-scars, leaves, &c., the species of Prunus are distinct 

 from Corylus in exuding gum from the cortex, and the 

 young catkins are often observable on the latter in winter. 



OO Bark not peeling in thin papyraceous 

 films, but cast in more or less sharply 

 circumscribed, rounded or angular, patches 

 or scales. 



Bark olive-grey, nearly smooth, but 

 annually casting even in early youth 

 thin irregularly rounded plates, which 

 leave exposed patches of paler grey, 

 olive or yellowish hues. Limbs and 

 main branches off at wide angles, 

 tortuous and rather oak-like: spray 



3 M t7 



irregular and crown dome-shaped or 

 round spreading. Foliage thick and 

 leaves large. Flowers and fruits in 

 globoid button-like heads on pendent 

 stalks. 



Platanus orientalis, L [and P. acerifolia]. Plane (Fig. 80). 

 Spreading tree 60 80 feet in height, the stem traceable 

 far into the loose crown, whose tortuous branches come 

 off at wide angles. The peculiar bark and button-like 

 fruits are unmistakable. 



Platanus occidentalis, the Button wood of North 

 America [which is very rare in this country], has the 

 palmatifid leaves less deeply cut and retains its tomentum 

 longer. The buds are covered up by the bases of the 

 petioles, and the stipules are peculiar, being collar-like. 

 Huge spreading tortuous irnbs and cover thick as that of 

 a Beech. 



