PLANE 95 



Regent's Park and at Primrose Hill exemplify. In 

 good yellow loam or alluvial deposit, such as along 

 the banks of the Thames, the largest trees are, however, 

 to be found. 



The largest Plane tree that we have measured 

 in the London area is the handsome specimen in the 

 grounds at Fulham Palace, which girths 18 feet 8 inches 

 at a yard from the ground and has a proportionately 

 wide spread of branches. It is not known with 

 certainty when the Plane was introduced, though in 

 1722 Fairchild wrote in praise of these trees at the 

 Church of St. Dunstan-in-the-East, which were then 

 40 feet high. In 1837 a Western Plane was recorded 

 as being 115 feet high in the Chelsea Physic Garden, 

 and from all records there can be little doubt that 

 the Eastern species was the latest importation. 



FAMOUS LONDON PLANE TREES 



The Wallace Tree, growing near the main entrance 

 to Gray's Inn Gardens, is one of the largest and best 

 developed Plane trees in London. It was planted 

 about a century and a half ago, is fully 70 feet high, 

 and has a branch spread of 25 yards. The peculiarly 

 gnarled trunk unusual for a Plane tree is 12 feet 

 in circumference at a yard from the ground-level, 

 and is clear of branches for three parts of its height. 

 This tree is in perfect health. It is questionable 

 whether any other grounds of equal area in London 

 contain so many large Plane trees as may be seen in 

 the Gray's Inn Gardens. 



The Wood Street Plane Tree. This famous tree, 

 which stands at the left-hand entrance to Wood Street 

 from Cheapside, marks the site of St. Peter in Chepe, 



