216 
zvanicum, but has its habit rather than that of V. atrococcum. 
The berries are shiny and the branches of the inflorescence red, 
as sometimes occurs in that species, and what pubescence there 
is, is more like that of the latter. 
H. H. Russy. 
THE HISTORY OF THE LONDON PLANE 
For many years the London plane, Platanus acerifolia, has 
been a favorite shade tree for city streets in the eastern United 
States, because of its extraordinary ability to flourish under 
conditions of drought and smoke which prove fatal to other 
species. In New York City at present, a majority of the trees 
in the more congested districts are of this form. It is, however, 
usually planted under the name of Oriental plane, Platanus 
orientalis, and has been mistaken for that species not only by 
nurserymen but by some botanists as well. 
A recent article in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 
entitled “The history of the London Plane,’ by A. Henry and 
Margaret G. Flood, throws much light on the nature and 
origin of this interesting tree, and indicates that it is a hybrid of 
the Oriental plane and the native buttonwood or sycamore, 
Platanus occidentalis. Since this article will be easily overlooked 
by American planters and since the tree is of so much importance 
in American gardening, it seems advisable to give some extracts 
from the original article—Ep. 
“The London Plane, Platanus acerifolia W., has all the pecu- 
liarities which are met with in a first cross. It is intermediate in 
fruit and leaves between the supposed parents—the Oriental 
Plane, which is indigenous in Greece and Asia Minor, and the 
Occidental Plane, which grows in a wild state in the forests of 
the eastern half of the United States. Its vigor is exceptionally 
great, as is usual in hybrids of the first generation; and its seeds 
when sown produce a mixed and varied crop of seedlings, in 
which are variously combined the characters of the two parents. 
Several supposed forms of the London Plane which are not un- 
