XLI. 
THE PLANE TREE. 
Tur PLANE TREE.—Platanus belongs to the natural order 
Platanacee, and to Monecia polyandria of the Linnean system. 
The genus comprehends only two species, the Eastern and 
Western Plane, which are cultivated in Britain chiefly as 
ornamental trees. This tree is quite different from the Acer 
pseudo-platanus, the great maple or sycamore, which in Scot- 
land is popularly termed plane tree (for a description of which 
see MAPLE). 
Of all the broad-leaved deciduous trees which grow in the 
climate of Britain, there is perhaps none which yields foliage 
more beautiful than the plane. 
The seeds are formed in round balls, and are suspended 
from the branches by slender thread-like stalks, which form 
a singular but graceful feature in the tree at all seasons of the 
year. Both species attain to a very great height in their 
native countries ; and some of the more favoured spots through- 
out Britain contain samples of both kinds, which in magnitude 
and beauty are not surpassed by the best specimens of our 
timber trees. 
The great objection to their general cultivation is the change 
of weather, which, frequently occurring at the opening of the 
season, is apt to destroy the leaves immediately after the 
expansion of the buds; and unless the soil is early and the 
situation warm ,our summers are hardly sufficient to mature 
the young wood so as to endure the frosts of winter. 
P. Orientalis (L.\—This species is a native of the east of 
Europe and the west of Asia. It abounds on the banks of 
the Grecian rivulets, on the coast of Asia Minor, and, accord- 
