CHAP. CVll. 



PLATANA*CR&. PLA'TANUS. 



2035 



1954 



pointed lobes, or segments, the two outer of which are again slightly lobed ; 

 the five large lobes have numerous acute indentations on their margins, and 

 have each a strong midrib, with many lateral veins spreading from it ; the 

 upper surface is glabrous, and of a shining green ; and the under surface 

 paler, and slightly tomentose 

 at the angles of the veins. 

 The flowers are produced in 

 globular catkins, from two to 

 five on an axillary peduncle, 

 which is sometimes 6 in. long ; 

 the sexes being in distinct cat- 

 kins . These catkins, or balls, 

 vary very much in size, being 

 sometimes 4 in. in circumfe- 

 rence, and sometimes not quite 

 1 in. The flowers are so small 

 as to require a glass to dis- 

 tinguish them. The balls ap- 

 pear before the leaves, in 

 spring ; and the seeds, in fine 



seasons, ripen late in autumn ; the balls remaining on the tree till the fol- 

 lowing spring ; and, when they open, the bristly down which surrounds the 

 seeds, helps to convey them to a distance. The seeds, when deprived of their 

 down, are brown, linear, smaller than those of the lettuce, and quite as light ; 

 Cobbett describes the seed of the plane tree as " a little brown thing, in the 

 shape of a round nail without a head." The growth of the plane is very rapid ; 

 young trees, in the climate of London, under favourable circumstances, attain- 

 ing the height of 30 ft. in ten years, and arriving at the height of 60 ft. or 

 70 ft. in 30 years. The longevity of the tree was supposed, by the ancients, 

 to be considerable; but there are very few old trees in Britain. One of 

 the oldest is that still existing at Lee Court, in Kent, which was mentioned 

 by Evelyn, in 1683, as one of the oldest introduced into this country, and as 

 being celebrated both for its age and its magrritude. (See Recorded Trees.) 

 Some of the largest trees in the neighbourhood of London are at Mount 

 Grove, Hampstead, where the}' are between 70 ft. and 80 ft. in height. The 



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