138 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



our plane or buttonwood and the Oriental plane. For the 

 purposes of shade and shelter, the American is the finest, 

 as its foliage is the longest and broadest. The Oriental 

 plane (Platanus orientalis) has the leaves lobed like our 

 native kind (P. occidentalis), but the segments are much 

 more deeply cut ; the footstalks of its leaves are green, 

 while those of the American are of a reddish hue, and the 

 fruit or ball is much smaller and rougher on the outer sur- 

 face when fully grown. Both species are common in the 

 nurseries, and are worthy the attention of the planter ; the 

 Oriental, as well for the interesting associations connected 

 with it, being the favorite shade-tree of the east, etc., as for 

 its intrinsic merits as a lofty and majestic tree. 



Two of the varieties of P. occidentalis are sometimes cul- 

 tivated, the chief of which is the Maple-leaved plane (P. O. 

 acerifolia). 



THE ASH TREE. Fraxinus. 

 Nat. Ord. Oleaceae. Lin. Syst. Polygamia, Dioecia. 



The name of the ash, one of the finest and most useful 

 of forest trees, is probably derived from the Celtic asc, 

 a pike as its wood was formerly in common use for 

 spears and other weapons. Homer informs us that Achilles 

 was slain with an ashen spear. In modern times the wood 

 is in universal use for the various implements of husbandry, 

 for the different purposes of the wheelwright and carriage- 

 maker, and in short for all purposes where great strength 

 and elasticity are required ; for in these qualities the ash is 



