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 occi- 

 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, as 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. 

 2ri/ramidalis 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. Mspanica, is now very rare in cultivation, and, so far as 

 I know, has never been planted in English towns. It form^ 

 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 



