46 



said to have sheltered in 1069. While under a tree still living on 

 the Island of Cos in the /Egean Sea, its trunk 54ft. in circum- 

 ference, tradition says that Hippocrates sat more than 400 years 



B.C. 



Among fine British specimens of the Oriental Plane Mr. Elwes 

 gives first place to a tree in the Palace Gardens at Ely, planted 

 by Bishop Gunning between 1674 and 1684. It is therefore over 

 230 years old ; it is more than 100ft. high, and more than 20ft. 

 in girth., A fine specimen at Kew has a trunk 13ft. in girth. 



In this district at Bisterne, near Ringwood, there is a very 

 fine Oriental Plane, that measured in 1906, 100ft. in height and 

 18ft. in girth. The largest Oriental Plane at Canford is 65ft. by 

 7ft. 8in. in girth. At Wimborne St. Giles, Mr. Wilbraham 

 measured for me a tree with a girth of 15ft. i^in., and at Merly 

 House, near Wimborne, Mr. Basil Levitt reports a well-grown 

 Oriental Plane, with a girth of 1 1 ft. 4m. The well-known Gilpin's 

 Plane in the Vicarage Garden at Boldre is a typical Oriental 

 Plane. Its estimated height is 85ft. to 90ft. Its girth at 5ft. is 

 16ft. 4m. The stem has numerous large burrs, and at 15ft. divides 

 into five huge spreading limbs. The diameter of its umbrage is 

 1 ooft. It is in vigorous health and well cared for. 



The London or Maple-leaved Plane (Platanus acerifolia) is 

 characterised by a smooth erect trunk, whose bark peels off in 

 flakes. It has a rounded head, and the ends of the branches are 

 usually pendulous. The shoots and leaves are at first covered with 

 a dense brown wool ; much of this falls away in the autumn. The 

 leaves are five-lobed but not nearly so deeply cut as in the Oriental 

 Plane. It is singular that the origin of this remarkable tree is not 

 known. It first came into notice early in the seventeenth century. 

 There is a specimen at Heron Court, planted in 1707. In London 

 it has been established in greater numbers than all other trees put 

 together. It certainly has the power to withstand a smoke-laden 

 atmosphere better than any tree at present known. There are fine 

 groups in Berkeley Square and near the Admiralty at Whitehall. 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell is of opinion that the avenue of Planes, not 

 long ago planted along the Mall, leading to Buckingham Palace, 

 in fiftv or sixty years, will be one of the sights of Europe. 



Probably the tallest London Plane in England grows at 

 Woolbeding, in Sussex. In 1903 it was 110ft. high, with a girth 

 of 1 oft. and a bole of 30ft. The London Plane at Heron Court, 

 above referred to, according to Mr. Elwes " measures 90ft. by 

 11ft, sin., and has a stone at the base with the date 1707 cut on 

 it. A woodpecker's hole in the trunk, which is clear for about 

 30ft., shows that this tree has begun to decay." A recent 

 measurement of this tree, made by Mr. P. Trentham Maw, makes 

 the girth at 5ft., 11ft. ioin. Another Plane on the South Lawn 

 at Heron Court, near the large Lebanon~Cedar, has a girth of 

 14ft. oiin. at 2^ft., where it gives out several large branches. 

 At Avon Castle, near the front entrance, and partly overhanging 

 the river, Lord Egmont was kind enough to assist me in measur- 



