616 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 
According to Koch,’ this is a good species, growing as a shrub on the south- 
eastern slope of the Caucasus, and having a very short stem from which spring 
many upright branches. Koch, however, did not find it in flower or fruit; and as 
no plane has been observed growing wild in the Caucasus, it is probable that what 
he saw were stunted trees of ordinary P?. ovdentalis, occurring as escapes from 
cultivation. 
At Grayswood, Haslemere, there are two plants, 4 feet high, with a fastigiate 
habit, which Mr. Chambers raised eight years ago, from seed sent from Kashmir. 
4. Var. digitata, Jankd, in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. xi. 412 (1890). 
Platanus digitata, Gordon, Garden, 1872, p. 572. 
This is a form of var. ¢yfzca, in which the leaves are smaller than usual, with 
wider and deeper sinuses, the lobes extending three-fourths the depth of the blade 
and having large triangular toothed lobules. 
Gordon supposed this form to be a native of the Caucasus, and says that it was 
introduced by Messrs. Loddiges in 1842. He describes the fruiting heads as only 
half the size of those of the type; but in the number and structure of the component 
achenes there is no difference. 
5. Var. acerifolia, Aiton, Hort. Kew, iii. 304 (1799). 
Platanus acerifolia, Willdenow, Sp. PZ. iv. 474 (1805). London Plane. Maple-leaved Plane. 
A tree, with a tall upright stem, giving off shorter branches than the typical 
form. Leaves (Plate 204, Fig. 1) large, at least 8 inches wide by 7 inches long, 
with five short, broad, triangular lobes, separated by wide rounded or acute shallow 
sinuses, which only extend one-third the length of the blade; base truncate or 
widely cordate, the lamina often descending on the midrib a short distance below 
the insertion of the two main lateral nerves. Fruiting heads very variable in size 
and in number on the peduncle, often badly developed in English trees; achenes 
similar in structure to those of the typical form, and never resembling those of 
P. occidentats. 
Several forms of the London plane have been distinguished :— 
Var. pyramidalis. Pyramidal in habit. 
Var. kelseyana. Leaves variegated with yellow. 
Var. Sutinert. Leaves creamy-white, more or less splashed or streaked with 
green, often very large, as much as 12 inches wide by 10 inches long. This is 
identical with var. axgenteo-variegata, which was exhibited at the Royal Horticultural 
Society in July 1897, by Messrs. Russell of Richmond. It is one of the handsomest 
of variegated trees, the variegation usually lasting the whole season.? 
A form with large leaves has been sent out under the misleading name of 
var. californica. 
Though var. acertfolia exhibits a wide range of variation in the cutting of the 
leaf, it always shows very distinct lobes, and cannot be confused with P. occidentalis, 
in which the lobes are indistinctly marked. 
* Dendrologie, I. Part i. p. 470 (1872). 2 Cf Gard, Chron. xxiv. 190 (1898). 
