116 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



plots allotted to the gymnastic games of the 

 city, and the porticoes of its sumptuous build- 

 ings generally terminated in groves of these 

 trees. 



The Romans named this fine tree Platanus, 

 from the Greek, and they seem to have held 

 it in equal veneration with their more eastern 

 neighbours, for we read in Pliny that when 

 it was first introduced into Italy, they irrigated 

 the roots with wine instead of water. This 

 author informs us that it was first brought over 

 the Ionian sea, into the island of Diomede, 

 where it was planted to ornament the tomb of 

 that hero. 



Dionysius the Tyrant brought the plane- 

 tree into Sicily, from Rhegium in Calabria, 

 about 400 years before the Christian era. 



This tree was so highly esteemed when first 

 introduced into France, that none of the na- 

 tives were allowed to repose under its shade, 

 without paying a tribute or tax for that pur- 

 pose to the Romans. 



The oriental plane-tree is thought to be so 

 great a purifier of the air, as even to defend 

 places which it surrounds from the plague. 

 Evelyn says, " A worthy knight, who staid at 

 Ispahan, in Persia, when that famous city was 

 infected with a raging pestilence, told me, 

 that since they have planted a greater number 



