Platanus 623 
* 
The well-known tree in Kew Gardens, near the Palace, is about 80 feet high, 
and measures 14 feet 8 inches in girth. 
In Scotland, the oriental plane is rare; and seems to be much injured by late 
spring frosts. The Rev. D. Landsborough? speaks of one planted in 1864 in Kay 
Park, Kilmarnock, which was killed by the frost of 15th April 1903 ; others, however, 
in a sheltered position had not suffered. A large oriental plane at Kelso, which was 
a favourite tree of Sir Walter Scott’s, was destroyed by the great frost of 1814. 
This was probably the tree referred to by Walker? in 1812, who states that the 
oriental plane grows at Mount Stewart, Bute, like a willow, and nowhere else so 
good in Scotland except at Kelso. 
In Ireland the oriental plane is rather a rare tree. The finest specimen we know 
of is at Carton, the seat of the Duke of Leinster, which was, in 1904, 82 feet in height 
by 11 feet 9 inches in girth, Mr. W. E. Gumbleton has sent us specimens from a 
very fine tree growing in his grounds at Belgrove, near Queenstown in County Cork. 
Another good tree is reported to be growing at Curragh Chase, in Co. Limerick. 
There are smaller trees at Clonmannin, in Co. Wicklow. 
The oriental plane attains an enormous size and great longevity in the eastern 
parts of Europe, Asia Minor, and Persia. 
One of the most remarkable was a tree growing in the village of Vostiza, on the 
Gulf of Lepanto, in Greece, which measured,’ in 1842, 37 feet 4 inches in girth at 5 feet 
from the ground, and was estimated to be 130 to 140 feet in height. This tree is 
supposed to be the one referred to by Pausanias, who wrote in the second century 
A.D.; yet in 1842 the trunk appeared to be perfectly sound, though many of the 
larger branches have succumbed to age and storm. Sir F. Elliot, British Minister 
at Athens, was good enough to make enquiry about this tree from Mr. Wood, 
British Consul at Patras, who informed him that when he last saw the tree, only 
a few feet of hollow stump remained. There are two remarkable oriental planes at 
Cannosa, near Ragusa in Dalmatia, which measure at breast height 32 feet 1 inch 
and 30 feet in girth. They are about 120 feet high.* 
The famous plane at Bujukdere on the Bosporus is not a single trunk, but is 
formed of nine stems fused together. According to Ch. Martins,’ in September 
1856, the height was 200 feet—evidently an exaggeration—with a spread of branches 
373 feet in circumference. One trunk girthed 18 feet; two trunks united together 
for some distance girthed 36 feet, the remaining six trunks being in an ellipse of 
76 feet. One of the stems was hollow and afforded stable room for two horses. 
This tree is typical ovzentalis.© This tree is also sometimes called the ‘Seven 
Brothers” or the plane tree of Godfrey de Bouillon, as tradition states that he 
and his crusaders encamped in its vicinity in 1096.’ Sir N. O’Conor informed 
me in 1903 that it has suffered much within the last few years owing to some 
excavations made close to its roots, and is evidently declining rapidly. A sketch 
of it made for the late Mr. C. Ellis, is now in Lady Emlyn’s possession. 
1 Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers Soc. Annals, 1901-1904, p. 33. 2 Hebrides, ii. 199 (1812). 
3D. H. in Woods and Forests, i. 174 (1884). 4 Beck v. Mannagetta, Veget. Verhalt. IIlyrisch. Land. 185 (1901). 
5 Du Spitsberg au Sahara, 474 (1866). 6 Bentham and Viscount Downe, in Gard. Chron. 1856, p. 118. 
7 Mouillefert, Assences Foresttéres, 215 (1903); and Garden and Forest, ii. 349 (1880). 
