iiicNUY AND Flood — The History ot the London I'lane. 19 



than in the other hybrid planes, often 10-12 inches in width, readily distin- 

 guished by the persistent tomentum on the nerves and petiole, and by the five 

 distinct short broadly triangular dentate lobes ; base shallowly cordate or 

 truncate, with or without a central cuneate part ; main nerves arising at the 

 junction of the petiole with the blade or rarely at some distance above it. 

 Fruit-balls usually solitary, occasionally 2, rarely 3, bristly, moderately large, 

 1-^ inch in diameter. Achene : body glabrous, except for a few scattered 

 hairs ; head not so flattened as in P. occidentalis, and not so conical as in P. 

 orientalis, glabrous ; styles variable in persistence, some breaking off about 

 the middle, others near their insertion. 



The history of P. hispanica is as follows: — Miller, in his "Dictionary," 

 edition 7, published in 1759, mentions in all four planes. The Occidental and 

 Oriental Planes, he says, " are undoubtedly distinct species, but there are two 

 others in English gardens which I suppose to be varieties that have acciden- 

 tally risen from seed ; one is titled the Maple-leaved Plane {P. acerifolia) and 

 the other is called the Spanish Plane tree." He considered P. acerifolia to be 

 a seminal variety of P. orientalis, as seeds of a large Oriental Plane in Chelsea 

 Garden produced plants of this sort several times. His description of the 

 Spanish Plane is unmistakable : — " It has larger leaves than the other sorts, 

 more divided than those of the Occidental Plane, sharply indented in the 

 edges, light-green, foot-stalks short and covered with a light down. It grows 

 faster than the other sorts, but I have not seen any very large tree of this 

 kind." He further states that he planted four planes, one of each sort, in 1731, 

 of which P. acerifolia had made the greatest growth in 1765. 



It would appear from this evidence that P. hispanica originated some time 

 before 1731, and was probably a seedling of one of the early London Planes, 

 which by this time had been bearing seed for many years. This beautiful tree 

 has always been rare in cultivation. It is cited in Loddiges' nursery catalogue 

 of 1836 under the correct name P. hispanica given to it by Muenchhausen in 

 1770. Eivers imported it from France in 1856 under the name P. macrophylla, 

 and says it is very hardy, growing freely from cuttings. There are several 

 examples at Kew, notably two fine trees beside the Azalea garden, which 

 were procured in 1878 from Van Houtte under the name P. californica. 

 These have tall, straight stems, with ascending branches above and pendulous 

 branches below, bearing magnificent foliage. P. hisijanica has been considered 

 by many authors to be a variety of P. occidentalis ; but the achenes clearly 

 show it to be of hybrid origin. 



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