PLANE TREE. 
Natural Order , Platane^:. Linnsean Classification , Mo- 
NCECIA, PoLYANDRIA. 
PLATANUS.f (Tournefort.) 
Flowers of one sex, those of the two kinds situated upon the 
same plant, and each of them disposed in spherical aments on 
pendulous stalks, producing from 2 to 5 upon each. Male 
flowers formed of minute thickish bractes; the filaments very 
short, situated between the bractes. Anthers 2-celled, attach- 
ed to a connectivum broader than the filament, with a peltate 
summit Female. Pistils numerous, in pairs. Ovary of 1- 
cell, including 1 to 2 pendulous ovules. Stigmas 2, long and 
filiform. Fruit a carpel seated in a tuft of articulated hairs, 
including 1 pendulous oblong seed, destitute of albumen. 
Lofty deciduous leaved trees, with widely spreading 
branches and a dense broad foliage having a pentangu- 
lar outline. Natives of Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, 
and the temperate parts of North America. The 
species about 3. Leaves alternate, palmate; the bud 
concealed beneath a conical envelope and immersed in 
the base of the petiole. The young shoots and leaves 
covered with a deciduous down. The old bark at 
length scaling off in extensive patches, leaving the trunk 
smooth. 
j* The name is from the Greek word platys , broad, in allusion 
to its wide spread leaves and branches. 
