THE SYCAMORE. 



113 



do these several classes of trees derive the great- 

 est benefit from what we, at first sight, might 

 imagine to be most productive of injury. 



From the extreme fecundity of this tree, Mar- 

 tyn argues that if it were truly indigenous, it 

 would ere this have filled the whole country, in- 

 stead of being a simple occupant of plantations 

 and hedges. In Switzerland, Germany, Austria, 

 and Italy, it is found abundantly in the mountain- 

 ous forests, and may therefore with propriety be 

 considered a native of those countries, whence it 

 was probably introduced into Britain, in the end 

 of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth 

 century. There are several varieties of Sycamore, 

 which are propagated by grafting. The most 

 remarkable among these are, the Yellow-leaved, 

 or Costorphine Plane, "^^ which is not common, 

 except in the neighbourhood of the place from 

 which it takes its name ; and the Purple -leaved, 

 so called from having the under surface of its 

 leaves, especially in spring, tinged with dark 

 purple. The value of all these, as ornamental 

 trees, is much enhanced by the earliness of the 

 season when they come into leaf. 



Chaucer speaks of it as a rare exotic, in the 

 fourteenth century. Gerard, in 1597, says, ^^The 

 Great Maple is a stranger in England, only it 

 groweth in the walkes and places of pleasure of 

 noblemen, w^here it especially is planted for the 

 shadowe-sake, and under the name of Sycamore 

 tree." Parkinson, speaking of the same in 1640, 

 says : It is no where found, wild or natural, in 

 our land, that I can learn ; but only planted in 

 orchards or walkes for the shadowes sake." It 



* In Scotland, the Sycamore is frequently called " The Plane." 



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