THE GUINI TREES 95 



Oriental Plane 

 P. Orientalis, Linn. 



The oriental plane is almost as familiar a tree as our 

 native species, for it is planted as a street tree in every city 

 and village, and is a favorite shade and lawn tree besides. 

 The city of Washington has set the example and so has 

 Philadelphia. One third of the street trees of Paris are 

 plane trees. 



The chief merits of this tree immigrant are its perfect 

 hardiness, its fine, symmetrical, compact pyramid, its 

 freedom from injury by smoke and dust, and its rapid 

 growth in the poor soil of the parkings of city and village. 

 In leaf and fruit and bark-shedding habit, it is easily 

 recognized as a sycamore, though in this species more than 

 one ball dangles from each stem. 



The exactions of city life limit the number of tree species 

 that will do well. Our native sycamore patiently endures 

 the foul breath of factory chimneys, and helps, in the small- 

 est, downtown city parks, to make green oases in 

 burning deserts of brick and stone pavements. But it is 

 subject to the ravages of insect and fungous enemies to a 

 greater extent than the oriental species. 



THE GUM TREES 



Southern people talk more about "gum trees" than 

 people in the North. Two of our three native species of 

 Nyssa belong solely to southern swamps, and the third, 

 which comes north to Canada, is of toner called bv other 



