PLANERTREE 



(Planer a Aquatica) 



THIS tree is a first cousin of the elms, but it is no more an elm than 

 a hackberry is an elm. It is a member of the family but is of a 

 different genus, and it is the sole representative of its genus in the known 

 world. There is only one kind of planertree, with no nearer relatives 

 than the elms on one side and hackberry, sugarberry, and palo bianco on 

 the other. Except those kinsfolk, it is alone on earth. The name is in 

 honor of Johann Jacob Planer, a German botanist whose efforts did 

 much for science nearly two hundred years ago. The name of the species 

 aquatica, recognizes the tree's habit of growing where water is abundant. 

 It is a swamp species, or rather, it prefers situations subject to periodic 

 overflow. It looks like an elm, and that has led people to call it water 

 elm. That is the name by which it is usually known in Florida. In 

 Alabama it is called the American planertree, which is an unnecessary 

 restriction, since there is no planertree except this one. The Louisiana 

 French gave it the name plene, and the abridgement of its name is yet 

 heard in that state. In North Carolina it has acquired the name syca- 

 more, but without good reason. It does not look in the least like 

 sycamore. 



It has the leaf of an elm, and it resembles that tree in bark, and 

 somewhat in general form. The layman detects the first important 

 difference when he examines the seeds. Those of the elms have wings, 

 but the planertree 's are without those appendages, and they would be 

 useless if it had them, unless they were as large as the parachute of the 

 basswood seed. The planertree bears a sort of nut, a third of an inch 

 long, and too heavy to be transported far on the ordinary membranous 

 wings of tree seeds. Water is doubtless the principal agent in carrying 

 the seeds from place to place. Probably few of them are transported far, 

 because the water about the trees is generally stagnant; and, besides, 

 the species does not seem to be extending its range or increasing in num- 

 bers. 



The planertree has a history. If the terms which the Roman 

 historian Tacitus applied to people, could be applied to trees, it might 

 be said of this species, as he said of certain tribes: "The cowards fly the 

 farthest and are the last survivors." The planertree is now found only 

 in certain southern swamps, from North Carolina to Florida, and west to 

 Missouri and Texas. In former periods, as is shown by the records of 

 geology, there were several species, and they had a wide range over 

 portions of the northern hemisphere. They appear to have been a strong 



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