CHAP. CV1I.

PLATANa'cEvE. pla'tanus.

2043

the head 60 ft * in Yorkshire , at Grimston, 14 years planted, it is 45 ft. high.—In Scotland . In the en-virons of Edinburgh , at Gosford House, 30 years old, it is 25 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. 3 in. in circum-ference • at Biel it is 64 ft. high : in Banffshire , at Gordon Castle, 66 ft. high, the diameter of thetrunk 3 ft 2 in and that of the head 64 ft. : in Ross-shire, at Brahan Castle, 50 ft. high, the diameterof the trunk 2 ft and of the head 40 ft—In Ireland . South of Dublin : in Kilkenny , at WoodstockPark 70 years planted, it is 68 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft., and of the head 48 ft. : inTipperary in Higgins’s Nursery, Clonmel , 50 years planted, it is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk3 ft and that of the head 63 ft. (North of Dublin : in the county of Down, at Castle Ward, 80 years

trunk 3 ft. 8 in. — In Hanover, at Harbeke, 8 years planted, it is 7 ft. high ; in the BotanicGarden Gottingen, 20 years planted, it is 12 ft. high —In Austria , at Vienna , in the University Bo-tanic Garden 35 years planted, it is 36 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 13 in.; in Rosenthal’s Nur-sery 20 years planted, it is 27 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of the head 24 ft.; at Briickon the Leytha 15 years old, it is 18 ft. high.—In Sweden , at Lund, in the Botanic Garden, 42 ft. high,the diameter of the trunk 14 in., and that of the head 28 ft.—In Italy , in Lombardy , at Monza ,29 years planted, it is 80 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and of the head 106 ft.

Commercial Statistics. Plants raised from layers of the species, in the Lon­ don nurseries, are Is. each; and of P. o. cuneata, 1.?. (id. each : at Boll-wyller, from 1 franc to 1 franc and 50 cents; and at New York , 50 cents.

*£ & 2. P. occidenta'lis L. The Western Plane.

Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. 475. ; Hort. Cliff., 78.; Roy Lugd., 7. ; Gron. Virg., 151. ; KalmIt., 2. p. 198.; Mill. Diet. , No. 2.; Du Roy Harbk., 2. p. 134.; Medic, in Obs. Soc. CEcon.Lutr., 1774, p. 239.; N. Du Ham. 2. p. 5.

Synonymes. P. occident^tlis sen virgiiiicnsis Park. Theatr., 1427., Du Ham. Arb ., t. 35.; Button-wood, Water Beech, Sycamore, Cotton Tree, Amer.-, Platanede Virginie, Fr.

Derivation . Button-wood refers to the smooth round heads of flowers, which resemble the globularbuttons formerly in use, and still seen in some military costumes ; Sycamore to the resemblance ofthe leaves to those of that tree; and Cotton Tree to the down detached in the course of the summerfrom the leaves. „ .

Engravings. Cat Carol., t. 56. ; Dend. Brit., 1.100.; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 2. t. 63.; our Jig. 1959.;and the plate of this species in our last Volume. Inj?g. 1959., a represents a transverse section ofthe female catkin in flower; b, the same in fruit; c, the female flower and scale; d, the stamenand scale; e, the longitudinal section of a seed; and/, an entire seed.

Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves 5-angled,obsoletely lobed, dentate, wedge-shaped at the base ; downy be-neath. (Willd.) A tree, a nativeof North America , where it growsto the height of 70 ft. or 80 ft. ;with a widely spreading head. Itflowers in May; and ripens itsseeds in October. Introduced be-fore 1636. The Occidental planeis easily distinguished from the Ori-ental plane, by its leaves being

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larger, and less deeply lobed (seefig.l951.a.inp. 2033.}; and by thered colour of their petioles; the petioles of P. orientalis being green. Thefruit is, also, much larger, and rather smoother.

Variety.

?£ P- o. 2 tortudsa ; Platane tortillard, Fr. —This variety, according to Bose, was found byMalesherbes in a bed of seedlings. The stem is full of knots, which render the fibrestortuous, and, consequently, difficult to split, like those of the ZT'lmus camp£stris tor-tuhsa, mentioned in p. 1376.; and, like that variety, it is thought to be suitable for thenaves of wheels. We have not heard of its being in cultivation in French nurseries.In the Nouveau Du Hamel , it is stated that M. Daubenton, fils, who raised many plantsof the Occidental platanus for seed, found the varieties almost infinite.

Description, fyc. The American, or Western, plane, in magnitude and generalappearance, bears so close a resemblance to the Oriental plane, that, by manypersons, they are confounded together. The former, however, is a larger tree;of much more rapid growth than the Oriental plane; with broader and lessdeeply cut leaves, red petioles, and fruit comparatively smooth, and consider-ably larger. The bark is said to scale off in larger pieces, and the wood to bemore curiously veined. In all other respects, the descriptive particulars of bothtrees are the same. The rate of growth of P. occidentalis, when placed nearwater, is so rapid, that in 10 years it will attain the height of 40 ft.; and atree in the Palace Garden at Lambeth, near a pond, in 20 years had at-