v.] PLANE. 



leaves of the Plane, instead of being at right angles to 

 the stem, lie more nearly parallel with it. Moreover, 

 as any one can see, the leaves are not arranged so 

 successfully with reference to exposure as those of the 

 species we have hitherto been considering, perhaps 

 because, living as it does in more southern localities, 

 the economy of sunshine is less important than in 

 more northern regions. 



The shoot of the Horse Chestnut is even stouter 

 than that of the Sycamore, and has a diameter below 

 the sixth leaf of no less than y*^ of an inch. With this 

 increase of strength is, I think, connected the greater 

 size of the leaves, which attain to as much as eighteen 

 inches in diameter, and this greater size, again, has 

 perhaps led to the dissection of the leaves into five or 

 seven distinct segments, each of which has a form 

 somewhat peculiar in itself, but which fits in admir- 

 ably with the other leaflets. However this may be, 

 we have in the Horse Chestnut, as in the Sycamore 

 and Maples, a beautiful dome of leaves, each standing 

 free from the rest, and expanding to the fresh air and 

 sunlight a surface of foliage in proportion to the 

 stout, bold stem on which they are borne. 



Now, if we place the leaves of one tree on the 

 branches of another, we shall at once see how unsuit- 

 able they would be. I do not speak of putting a 

 small leaf such as that of a Beech on a large-leaved 

 tree such as the Horse Chestnut ; but if we place, for 

 instance, Beech on Lime, or vice versd, the contrast 

 is sufficiently striking. The Lime leaves would over- 

 lap one another, while, on the other hand, the Beech 

 leaves would leave considerable interspaces. Or let us 



