48 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
The London plane (Platanus acerifolia) is the tree which 
succeeds best in streets, not only in England, but on the 
continent of Europe and in the United States. This re- 
markable tree is unknown in the wild state, and is un- 
doubtedly a hybrid, which appears to have originated in 
this country about 260 years ago. The parents were the 
oriental plane (Platanus orientalis), native of the Levant, 
and the occidental plane (Platanus occidentalis), common in 
the forests of eastern North America. To its hybrid origin 
may be ascribed the extraordinary vigour of this tree, which 
enables it to remain healthy under the most unfavourable 
conditions of soil and atmosphere in towns. It is invariably 
propagated by nurserymen from cuttings. When raised 
from seed it produces a varied progeny, none of the seedlings 
reproducing exactly the parent, some approximating in 
foliage to Platanus orientalis and others to Platanus ocei- 
dentalis, an evident proof of its hybrid origin. 
The original type is represented by many fine old trees 
in the London squares, and has been much planted in the 
streets of the metropolis. It is a wide-spreading tree, with 
horizontal and pendulous branches, and attains in good soil 
an enormous size, a8 is evidenced by the wonderful specimen 
at the Ranelagh Club, Barnes. Two other forms are known, 
both of which are probably seedlings. One named var. 
pyramidalis is said to have come from Holland about thirty 
years ago, and is readily distinguishable by its narrower and 
stiffer habit, with ascending branches and dense foliage, the 
leaves being less deeply cut than those of the typical form. 
The pyramidal variety is now much planted in towns 
throughout the British Isles, and is scarcely less vigorous 
than the original form. The other form, Platanus acerifolia, 
var. hispanica, is now very rare in cultivation, and, so far as 
I know, has never been planted in English towns. It forms 
at Kew a tall straight stem, with branches not so pendulous 
as those of the type, and bearing remarkably large leaves, 
very distinct in outline. This beautiful tree, on account of 
its graceful habit and magnificent foliage, is well worth 
propagating, and should be tried in parks and streets, All 
