Platanus. PLATANACEjE. 75 



Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, very strong, flexible, close-grained, 

 compact, very durable in contact with the ground, satiny, susceptible of a 

 beautiful polish, containing numerous small open ducts ; layers of annual 

 growth clearly marked with broad bands of larger ducts ; medullary rays 

 thin, numerous, conspicuous ; color bright orange, turning brown with 

 exposure, the sap-wood light yellow ; largely used for fence-posts, paving- 

 blocks, railway-ties, and wheel-stock. 



PLATANACE-iE. 



235. Platanus occidentalis, L. 



Sycamore. Bultonwood. Button-ball Tree. Water Beech. 



Southern Maine and southeastern New Hampshire to northern Ver- 

 mont and the northern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, west to eastern 

 Nebraska and Kansas ; south to northern Florida, central Alabama, and 

 Mississippi, and southwest to the valley of the Devil's River, Texas. 



The largest tree of the Atlantic forests, often 30 to 40 metres in height, 

 with a trunk 2.40 to 4.20 metres in diameter ; borders of streams and 

 bottom-lands, in rich, moist soil ; very common and reaching its greatest 

 development in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ; the large 

 specimens generally hollow. 



Wood heavy, hard, not strong, very close-grained, compact, difficult to 

 split and work ; layers of annual growth clearly marked by broad bands 

 of small ducts ; the numerous medullary rays very conspicuous, as in that 

 of all the North American species ; color brown tinged with red, the sap- 

 wood lighter ; largely used for tobacco boxes, ox-yokes, butchers' blocks, 

 and, rarely, in the manufacture of cheap furniture. 



236. Platanus racemosa, Nutt. 

 Sycamore. Buttonwood. 



California, — valley of the Sacramento River, south through the in- 

 terior valleys and Coast Ranges to the southern boundary of the State. 



A large tree, 24 to 30 metres in height, with a trunk 0.90 to 1.20 

 metres in diameter ; borders of streams, in rich soil. 



Wood light, soft, not strong, very close-grained, compact, difficult to 

 split ; layers of annual growth clearly marked by narrow bands of small 

 ducts ; medullary rays numerous, conspicuous ; color light brown tinged 

 with red, the sap-wood lighter. 



237. Platanus "Wrightii, Watson. 



Sycamore. 



Valleys of southwestern New Mexico to the valley of the San Pedro 

 River, Arizona ; in northern Mexico. 



