THE SYCAMORE, OR GREAT MAPLE. 



21 



from the want of the protecting qualities, to resist the 

 sudden influx of the air and vicissitudes of the seasons. 



A curious anomaly in 

 regard to the cotyledons 

 of the Sycamore is men- 

 tioned by Professor Hens- 

 low, in the "Magazine of 

 Natural History,'''' which 

 we have frequently ob- 

 served since our attention 

 was directed towards the 

 subject. In many young- 

 plants he found the co- 

 tyledons to amount to as 

 many as four, but in such cases they were all pro- 

 portionally smaller than in those which bore the normal 

 number (2) ; in others they were three, two of which 

 were less than the third ; and in others, again, one or 

 both cotyledons were merely cloven down the middle, thus 

 showing that the increase of cotyledons did not originate 

 in any extra developement of the organs themselves, but 

 was merely the result of the subdivision of the normal 

 number. 



The principal varieties cultivated are, 1st. The Yellow 

 Variegated Sycamore, or Costorpliine Plane {Ac. p. flavo- 

 variegata, Loud.), the original tree grows in the grounds of 

 Sir T. D. Lauder, in the parish of Oostorphine, near Edin- 

 burgh. To propagate it, budding or grafting is necessary, 

 as the plants raised from its seed are generally green-leaved 

 and without any blotching. 2nd. The White Variegated- 

 leaved Sycamore (A. p. variegata, Loud.), much more com- 

 mon than the former : by many these varieties are highly 



