Platanus.} LXVIII. PLATANE^. 435 



Western Ladak. It grows well at Peshawar, and at the foot of the North-West 

 Himalaya— e. g., at Amb in the Hushiarpur district — and fairly well, without 

 attaining any large size, at Amritsar and Lahore. Farther east it does not 

 thrive, and in the Saharanpur garden trees do not live longer than a few years. 

 The oriental Plane is indigenous in ravines and moist valleys of Greece, Mace- 

 donia, Armenia, and North Persia. Hehn (Culturpfl. 199) thinks that it was 

 introduced from Asia Minor into Greece. Hardy in England. The foliage 

 often gets reddish ahout October before it falls, the young leaves appear late in 

 April, the flowers appear April, May, the fruit ripening soon afterwards and 

 remaining long on the tree. Attains 75 ft. in Kashmir and Chamba, with a 

 girth of 10-20 ft., the largest girth noted by Dr Stewart at Sirinagar being 28 ft. 

 .The branches spread wide ; Stewart records two trees, one at Kishtwar (5500 ft.) 

 on the Chenab, the other at Tikri in Chamba territory (same elevation), on a 

 tributary of the Ravi, girth 19-20, extreme length of branches from trunk 37 and 

 44 ft. The Nasim Bagh on the border of the great Kashmir lake is a large grove 

 planted by Akhbar the Great soon after he had taken Kashmir in 1 588. Originally 

 the grove, which is about 800 by 400 yards, contained 1200 trees, a large pro- 

 portion of which are stiU standing. In 1838, Vigne found the average girth to 

 be 13 ft., and supposed their age to be 248 years. The largest, close to the water, 

 averaged 20 ft. in girth. Of two trees 170 years old at Brein in Kashmir, Vigne 

 found one 16'22", the other 20'10" in girth, and the largest Plane he had seen 

 was under the Eiburg mountains near Teheran 66 ft. in girth. Near Vostitza 

 in the Morea, a tree over 40 ft. in girth is recorded. Many renowned large Plane 

 trees in Asia Minor. 



The bark is J in. thick, light or dark grey, peeling off in large thin scales. 

 Wood yellowish white, somewhat resemblijag Beech-wood, with numerous broad 

 medullary rays showing on a vertical section as glossy shining plates, with irregu- 

 larly wavy outline. Pores numerous, very fine, uniformly distributed. Annual 

 rings distinctly marked. No distinct heartwood. It is compact, fine-grained 

 but not strong, and is not valued in Kashmir except to make boxes, trays, pen- 

 cases, and similar articles which are lacquered and painted. In Afghanistan, 

 where timber is scarce, it is said to be used for gun-carriages ; in Persia and in 

 the Levant furniture, doors, and window-frames are made of it. It takes a 

 beautiful polish, and the mottled grain recommends it for cabinet-work. ■ 



P. occidentaZis, Linn., of North America, and more commonly cultivated in 

 Western Europe than the oriental Plane, differs by less deeply lobed leaves, 

 which are pubescent when full-grown, and by slightly smaller fruit-heads. 



Casuarina eqtdsetifolia, Forster — Syn. C. murkata, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 519 — 

 of the Order of Casuarinece, is a large tree with leafless drooping branches, 

 thickly set at the ends with numerous approximate slender articulate branchlets, 

 which are deciduous and fulfil the function of leaves. Flowers monoicous, the 

 male flowers monandrous, in terminal cyHndric spikes, the female flowers in - 

 small pedicellate globose heads. Fruit a subglobose cone, formed of the enlarged 

 and thickened woody bracts ; seeds with a membranous wing. Indigenous on 

 the coast of Chittagong and Burma, in the islands of the Indian Archipelago, 

 North Australia, and Queensland. The Bee/wood of Australia. Cultivated 

 throughout India, thrives at Amballa. Wood hard, heavy, brown, darker near 

 the centre, medullary rays very fine, very numerous. Polishes well, but cracks 

 and warps. Yields excellent fuel ; plantations of it for that purpose have been 

 made near Madras. 



The wood of C. striata, Alton ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vi. 195— Syn. C. quadri- 

 valvis, Labill., — the She Oak of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, and New 

 South Wales, and of several other Australian species, is marked by broad medul- 

 lary rays, and is used for cabinet-work. 



