FOREST TREES. 



421 



The Plane-tree (fig. 947) is sometimes confounded with the syca- 

 more, but it is really a very different tree, and belongs to a different 

 genus (Platanns). It is truly a noble tree. There are two species, P. 

 orientalis and P. Occident alis, both very similar, but one has been 

 imported from Europe or 

 from the East of Asia, the 

 other from America. The 

 fruit very unlike that of 

 the sycamore is globular, 

 and droops gracefully from 

 a long stalk. The plane is 

 now the fashionable tree of 

 the period, and is used ex- 

 tensively in all our London 

 Parks to replace the dying 

 elms. It abounds in the 

 gardens of our London 

 squares. A good example 

 is to be seen in Cheapside, 

 at the corner of Wood Street, and a grand tree of P. occidcntalis exists 

 outside my garden, on ground in the occupation of Mr. Sheppey. 

 An enormous P. orientalis exists in private grounds in Carshalton 

 village, near running water. The Eastern may be known from the 

 Western tree by its leaves being more deeply cut. The plane is a 

 tree of the highest excellence where magnitude is required, but it 

 has the one great disadvantage of coming into leaf late in spring. 



I have grown the A ilanthus glandulosa, which has large leaves with 

 from nine to eleven leaflets. Experiments have been tried to raise the 

 Bombyx cyrthia on this tree, for its silk, but I believe up to this time 

 without success in England. 



Amongst the most beautiful of ornamental trees, the Laburnum 

 stands pre-eminent for the beauty of its flowers, which hang in pendent 

 yellow blossoms so distinct and bright as to shine out and shed 

 their lustre across the garden. It is such a favourite of mine, that 



FIG. 947. Plane-tree. 



