LXXIIl. BALSAMA CEE. 931 
seeds may also be kept in the baus, or catxins, till spring; either by allowing 
them to hang on the tree, or by gathering them in autumn, and spreading 
them out in a dry loft. The general practice is to sow the seeds in autumn, 
or as soon as gathered, or received from the Continent ; choosing a moist 
rich soil, and a shady situation, and covering them as lightly as those of the 
birch or alder are covered, or beating them in with the back of the spade, and 
not covering them at all ; and protecting the beds with litter of some sort, te 
exclude the frost. The plants will come up the following spring. 
¥ 2, P. occipenta tis LZ. The Western Plane. 
Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff., 78.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. 475,; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 5. 
Synony P. occidentalis seu virginiénsis Park. Theaty. 1427., Du Ham, Arb. t. 35.3; Button. 
wood, Water Beech, Sycamore, Cotton Tree, Amer.; Platane de Virginie, Fr. 
Derivation. Button-wood refers to the smooth round heads of flowers, which resemble the globular 
buttons formerly in use, and still seen in some military costumes ; Sycamore to the resemblance of 
the leaves to those of that tree ; and Cotton Tree to the down detached in the course of the summer 
from the leaves. 
Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 100.; Michx. N. Amer. vr &. t. 63.5 the plate of this species in Arb. 
Brit., lst edit., vol. viii. ; and our jig. 1737. In jig. 1/37. a represents a transverse section of the 
female catkin in flower; 5, the same in fruit ; c, the female flower and scale; d, the stamen and 
scale; e, the longitudinal section of a seed ; and, an entire seed. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves 5-angled, obsoletely lobed, dentate, wedge-shaped 
at the base ; downy beneath. (Willd.) A large deciduous tree. Atlantic 
and Western States. Height 70 or 80 feet; with a widely spreading head. 
Introduced in 1636. Flowers greenish ; May. Fruit brownish ; ripe in 
October and November. 
The American, or Western, plane is of much more rapid and upright growth 
than the Oriental plane ; with broader and less deeply cut leaves, red petioles, 
and fruit comparatively smooth, and considerably larger. The bark is said to 
scale off in larger pieces, and the wood to be more curiously veined. In all 
other respects, the descriptive par- 
ticulars of both trees are the same. 
The rate of growth of P. occidentalis, 
when placed near water, is so rapid, 
that in 10 years it will attain the 
height of 40ft.; and a tree in the 
Palace Garden at Lambeth, near a 
pond, in 20 years had attained the 
height of 80 ft.; with a trunk 8 ft. in 
circumference at 3 ft. from the ground ; 
and the diameter of the head 48 ft. 
This was in 1817. In May, 1837, 
we had the portrait of this tree taken, 
which will be found in Ard. Brit., indi: Biceiaue 
Ist edit., p. 2044., when it was up- 
wards of 100 ft. in height. Uses, culture, soil, &c., as in P. orientalis, with this 
difference : that cuttings root much more readily ; that the tree, to attain a 
very large size, requires a moister soil, or to be placed near water ; that it is 
less hardy, and also less ornamental, though, from being more readily pro- 
pagated, it is much more frequently planted. 
Orver LXXIII. BALSAMA'CEA. 
C2p. Cuan. Flowers unisexual, in different catkins on the same plant. — 
Male catkins in an upright raceme. Stamens numerous, mixed with scales, 
on a connate receptacle. — Female catkins solitary, below the male ones, 
globose, on longer stalks. Ovaria many, 2-celled, each surrounded by a few 
scales, Stylestwo. Fruit a kind of cone, composed of indurated connected 
scales, in the cavities of which lie the capsules, which are 2-lobed. Seeds 
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