380 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
are extremely deep, and although the inden- 
tations dividing the other of the five principal 
lobes into which the leaf is divided are also 
deeper than in the leaf of Occidentalis, it is 
the upper lobe which, as we have intimated, 
furnishes the prominent and distinguishing 
feature of Or/entalis. 
Owing, in all probability, to the greater ease 
with which it can be propagated, and to the 
greater rapidity of its growth, the Western Plane 
is much more abundant, especially within town 
limits, than Platanus orientalis, although the 
latter has been an inhabitant of this country for 
a century longer than the other species, having 
been introduced into England prior to the year 
1548. 
But both these Trees are very beautiful. The 
twisting of the upper branches appears arranged 
as if to provide for the greatest degree of umbra- 
geousness ; for, as all leaves, twigs, and branches 
naturally make for the light, the twisting tendency 
of the Plane branches enables them to fill up any 
spaces which might admit too much sunlight. 
Yet they pliantly give way to the pressure of the 
