Platanus
(Platanos, the old Greek name, from platys, broad; referring to the foliage). Plane-tree. The only genus of ORD. Platanaceae (which see for characters, &c.). The two species described below are magnificent trees for parks and similar situations. Both require a deep, rich, soft soil, and generally attain the greatest size where their roots have access to water. They require shelter, but must not be confined. Propagated by seeds, or by layers. The former are contained in round balls, which require to be broken, and should be sown in March; merely pressing them into the surface of the soil is sufficient, but they must be kept moist and shaded. The quickest way to propagate is from layers.
P. occidentalis (Western).* Button-wood; Western Plane. fl. greenish. May. fr. brownish; ripe in October and November. l. five-angled, obsoletely lobed, dentate, wedge-shaped at the base, downy beneath. h. 70ft. to 80ft. Atlantic and Western States, 1636. A fine species, differing from P. orientalis in its less deeply-lobed, more coriaceous, pubescent leaves, and in the fertile catkins being solitary on the long peduncles. It is rare in British gardens, and apparently not so hardy as the common species. (E. T. S. M. ed. 2,261.) P. orientalis (Eastern).* Oriental or Common Plane. fl. greenish-yellow. April. fr. brown; ripe in October, and persistent for the greater part of the winter. l. five-lobed, palmate, wedge-shaped at the base, the divisions lanceolate, sinuated; stipules nearly entire. h. 60ft. to 80ft. Levant, previous to 1548. (W. D. B. 101.) A beautiful tree, presenting a great variety of handsome forms, which differ chiefly in the shape and lobing of the leaves. The variety acerifolia (Maple-leaved) is the commonest in cultivation, frequently bearing the name of P. occidentalis, from which it may be readily distinguished when in fruit by the peduncles bearing more than one ball, and frequently many. It is the form known as the London Plane, on account of its being generally planted in the parks; and is an erect-growing tree, with usually three-lobed leaves, or, if five-lobed, less deeply so than in the typical form. (W. D. B. 100, under name of P. occidentalis.) The typical orientalis is a more spreading tree, with very large, deeply five-lobed leaves, cordate or truncate at the base. The variety cuneata has the leaves distinctly wedge-shaped at the base; laciniata, very deeply, much-divided leaves; and variegata, variegated foliage.
A plant in gardens, with fine bold foliage, called P. californica, has not yet fruited in this country; it is doubtful whether it really is the Californian P. racemosa (with which the true P. californica is synonymous).