348 PLATANACE.E. 



Herbes" as early as 1541, it never seems to have been 

 encouraged to the extent it deserves, even as an orna- 

 mental appendage to the residences of our gentry, and 

 the specimens now in existence are neither very numerous 

 nor are they distinguished for their dimensions, at least 

 as compared with those gigantic Planes which are met 

 with in Greece, Persia, and other native habitats of the 

 species. Whether this apparent neglect of the Oriental 

 Plane has arisen from a supposed delicacy of constitution, 

 (though, in fact, it is found to be hardier than the occidental 

 species,) from its frequent failure, in consequence of having 

 been planted in unfavourable soil, or from a like liability 

 to suffer from late severe spring-frosts, which at intervals 

 have proved so fatal to the American species, does not 

 appear, though it is probable that these circumstances com- 

 bined have created a prejudice against it and prevented its 

 more extended distribution. 



In the south of England and around London, where speci- 

 mens are most numerous, the largest trees mentioned by 

 Loudon seem to have attained a height of from seventy to 

 ninety feet, and a diameter of trunk of from three to upwards 

 of four feet. The oldest recorded British specimen is that 

 at Lee Court in Kent, which was seen by Evelyn in 1683, 

 and was then a fine tree ; a portrait of the same was given 

 by Mr. Strutt in his " Sylva Britannica," and its dimen- 

 sions were found by that gentleman to be as follow ; — 

 circumference at six feet from the ground fourteen feet 

 eight inches, height sixty-five feet. In the north of Eng- 

 land it is rarely seen, and few attempts are made to rear 

 it, though its occidental congener is often planted in orna- 

 mental grounds. In Scotland it grows as far north as 

 Ross-shire, where a tree fifty feet high, with a trunk of 

 two feet in diameter, is mentioned by Loudon, growing 



