THE PLANE TREE. 369 
is upwards of seventy feet high, with a trunk from four feet 
four inches, and a head upwards of ninety feet in diameter. 
Its timber, when young, is of a yellowish white; in an old 
tree it assumes a brownish gloss, of a fine grain; it takes a 
high polish, and is esteemed in cabinet-making. 
Several specimens of this tree are found in Morayshire 
associated with other trees in hedgerows standing on soil of 
ordinary quality ; compared with the Scotch elm, ash, and 
sycamore, they are about one-fourth less in height and in 
cubical contents, which appears to arise from the plane failing 
in late seasons to ripen the extremities of its young shoots, 
which, to some extent, are killed back in the succeeding winter. 
At Gordon Castle the tree has attained the height of sixty- 
eight feet, with a trunk three feet in diameter. 
P. Occidentalis (L.), the Western Plane, is a native of North 
America, abounding in the fertile valleys on the banks of the 
Ohio and its tributaries, and along the great rivers of Pennsyl- 
vania and Virginia. It was introduced into Britain about 
1630. Its appearance is very like that of the Oriental species; 
the leaves are large, thin, angled, lobed, soft to the touch, and 
somewhat downy underneath, with the fruit-balls much 
smoother than in the other species. The bark scales off in 
longer pieces than in the Oriental tree. In common with the 
other species, its young shoots proceed in a zig-zag direction, 
and in cold weather in May it assumes a scorched appearance ; 
but as soon as steady summer weather comes on, it gradually 
furnishes itself with the rich garb of green for which it is so 
celebrated as a park ornament or embowering shade. It grows 
from cuttings, but it is more frequently propagated by layers. 
The treatment suitable for this is similar to that recommended 
for the other species. This is a more rapidly growing, but a 
less hardy tree ; its vigorous shoots seldom become matured 
to the extremity, and consequently they die back to some ex- 
tent from the effects of frost. Yet the best specimens of plane 
throughout Britain are of this species. At Croome, in War- 
wickshire, it attained in seventy-five years to the height of 
100 feet, with a trunk three and a half feet in diameter in 
