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PLANE TREE. 



Family: AMENTACEAE [Translator's note: now PLATANACEAE]. 

 Reproductive system: MONOECY, POLYANDRY. 



The oriental plane tree, Platanus oriental! s, Linn., is a tree that grows very tall, 

 especially when it's in good, fresh soil. Its trunk attains a considerable diameter, 

 confirmed by Pliny's preserved record that a Roman consul spent the night with eighteen 

 of his retinue inside one. The bark is ash-gray; it partly sheds and re-grows every year. 

 The numerous thick branches bear alternate petiolate palmate leaves with five deeply- 

 indented lobes that are dentate and pointed. The leaves are smooth and flat. The flowers 

 are monoecious. The males, separate from the females or on the same axis, insert into a 

 rounded receptacle. The large number of stamens are clustered and are borne on short 

 filaments. The female flowers are globose like the males and are formed from bristles and 

 small fleshy bodies. The ovary is cylindrical and is surmounted by a slightly curved, 

 hook-shaped style. It turns into a seed full of bristles and terminates in a point. 



FLOWERS: in April and in May. 



RANGE: Pliny says that the plane tree was brought from Asia to the island of 

 Diomedes [Translator's note: a Greek hero of the Trojan war] to decorate that warrior's 

 tomb. It then was transported to Italy, and from there it spread to all of Europe. 



NOMENCLATURE. Platanus, from a Greek word meaning full, wide, because of 

 the breadth of its leaves. German, der morgenlandische platanus. English, the oriental 

 plane-tree. Russian, tschinar. 



USES. This tree for a long time has augmented the decoration of our parks and 

 promenades. It can be planted in avenues and in borders around large bodies of water. 



