affirmed was the tree against which Marsyas was hanged up when he was flayed by Apollo. Plane trees were planted near all the public schools in Athens. The groves of Epicurus, in which Aristotle taught his peripatetic disciples; the shady walks planted near the Gymnasia, and other public buildings of Athens; and the groves of Academus, in which Plato delivered his celebrated discourses; were all formed of this tree. Socrates swore by the plane tree; and this was one of the things which offended Melitus, who thought it a great crime to swear by so beautiful a tree. Pliny informs us that the plane was first brought from the East, over the Ionian Sea, into the Island of Diomedes, for a monument to that hero. Thence it passed into Sicily, where Dionysius the elder planted it in his garden at Syracuse, about 400 B. C.; and this garden, in after times, became a place of exercise for youths. Soon after the plane tree was planted in Sicily, it was introduced into Italy, and thence, Pliny adds, into the country of the Morini, a maritime people of Gaul, who paid a tribute to the Romans for permission to enjoy its shade. Dionysius the geographer compares the form of the Morea in the Levant, the ancient Peloponnesus, to the leaf of this tree; and Pliny makes the same remark in allusion to its numerous bays. To illustrate this comparison, Martyn, in his Virgil (vol. ii. p. 149.), gives a figure of the plane tree leaf (see fig. 1958. a), and a map of the Morea (fig. 1598. b). The Romans

set a high value on the plane, and planted their public and academic walks with it. Vitruvius says that they planted plane trees to shade and refresh the palæstritæ (lib. v. c. 11.); and "Claudius Perrault has assisted the text with a figure, or ichnographical plot. These trees the Romans," continues Evelyn, " first brought out of the Levant, and cultivated with so much industry and cost, for their stately and proud heads only, that the great orators and statesmen, Cicero and Hortensius, would exchange now and then a turn at the bar, that they might have the pleasure to step to their villas, and refresh their platans, which they would often irrigate with wine instead of water: Crevit et affuso latior umbra mero." (Hunt. Evel., ii. p. 55.) "Much has been said," observes Pliny, "of the plane trees in the Lyceum at Athens, of which the roots extended even farther than the branches. There is now in Lycia a famous plane tree, on the public road, near a very cold fountain. This tree is in itself a forest: its branches are as large and thick as trees, and they cover an immense extent of ground with their shade. The trunk of this tree, which is 81 ft. in circumference, is hollow, and has inside numerous stones covered with moss. This tree was such a favourite with Licinius Mucianus, three times governor of the province of Lycia, that he thought it worth while to hand down to posterity, that he had eaten in this hollow tree, or grotto, with eighteen persons, who had, for couches or cushions to recline on, only the leaves of the tree (large ipsa toros præbente fronde); that the thickness of the foliage sheltered them from a heavy shower of rain; and that he (the governor) enjoyed more pleasure during his repast in this tree, than

he had ever done in his most magnificent marble saloon.” (Ptn., lib. xii. c. 1.) "The emperor Caligula found, near Velitræ, an extraordinary plane tree. It had some of its branches formed like a roof, and others as seats. In this saloon the emperor gave a supper to fifteen persons, which he called the Feast of the Nest, because it had been given in a tree (Quam cœnam appellavit ille nidum)." (Id.) Pliny also speaks of a tree in Arcadia, which, he says, was planted by Agamemnon; and he states that canoes, and other vessels for the sea, were formed of the excavated trunks of the plane tree. Cicero mentions the plane tree as well calculated to afford a thick shade, by the extent of its branches, and the thickness of its foliage.

The chinar, or Oriental plane tree, has been cultivated in Persia from the earliest period; and Evelyn states that " a worthy knight, who staid at Ispahan when that famous city was infected with a raging pestilence, told" him "that, since they have planted a greater number of these noble trees about it, the plague has not come nigh their dwellings." (Hunt. Evel., ii. p. 56.) In the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Forêts, the same observation is attributed to the Chevalier Chardin, who was probably the "worthy knight" alluded to by Evelyn. This gentleman, who was also called Sir John Chardin, and who published a folio edition of his travels, written in French, in London, in 1686, observes of the gardens of the Persians, that they are generally divided in the middle by an avenue of chinar trees; and that, as the Persians do not use their gardens for walking in, but as a place for sitting in and breathing the fresh air, they generally seat themselves under these trees. Sir Robert Ker Porter found the Persian gardens intersected by avenues of plane trees in different directions; and Morier, Colonel Johnson, and Sir William Ousely, agree in attributing to them this characteristic, and in describing the Persians as preferring the chinar as a tree to worship under. Sir William Ousely mentions that on these trees the devotees sacrifice their old clothes by hanging them to the branches; and that the trunks of favourite chinar trees are commonly found studded with rusty nails and tatters; the clothes sacrificed being left nailed to the tree till they drop to pieces of themselves.

In Fraser's Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia, published in 1834, when speaking of the general effect of the scenery in Persia, the author says: "No trees gladden the landscape, except the tall poplar, or the stately chinar (Plátanus orientalis), which rise above the hovels of the peasants; or the fruit trees of their orchards; or, perhaps, a few of other sorts which may have been planted on the margin of a watercourse, to supply the little timber required : and these, dotting the wide plain with their dark foliage, convey to the mind a melancholy, rather than cheering, impression." (p. 28.)

The Oriental plane tree appears to have been introduced into England about the middle of the sixteenth century; as Turner says, in his Herball (the first part of which was published under the title of the Names of Herbes, as early as 1541, though the entire work was not finished till 1568): "I have seene two very yong trees in England, which were called there Playn trees; whose leaves in all poyntes were lyke unto the leaves of the Italian Playn

tre.

And it is doubtles that these two trees were either brought out of Italy, or of som farr countre beyond Italy, whereunto the frieres, monks, and chanons went a pilgrimage." Gerard does not mention having seen the Oriental plane growing in England; but he tells us that his "servant, William Marshall, whom he sent into the Mediterranean Sea, as surgeon unto the Hercules of London, found divers trees hereof growing in Lepanto, hard by the sea side, at the entrance into the towne, a port of Morea, being part of Greece; and from thence brought one of these rough buttons, being the fruit thereof." (Herball, p. 1489.) Jonson, in his edition of Gerard, adds to this passage, that Mr. Tradescant had then (1633) trees of this plane growing in his garden; but, according to Martyn's Miller, this is evidently a mistake, the trees in Tradescant's garden being the Occidental plane, which was introduced by him about this period. In Parkinson's Theatrum Botanicum, published in 1640, both the Eastern and Western plane trees are figured; and the

latter is said to have been introduced by Tradescant. The introduction of the Eastern plane was, in Miller's time, generally attributed to Lord Bacon, who, however, was not born till 1561, about 20 years after the first mention of the tree by Turner. The origin of this supposition is probably the statement, by Evelyn, that Lord Bacon "planted a noble parcel of them at Verulam, which were very flourishing," and which, as Martyn remarks, might have been the first of any note planted in England. Evelyn says "that he owed a hopeful plant," then growing at his own villa, "to the late Sir George Crook of Oxfordshire ;" and he speaks of the true, or Oriental, plane" as being more common in England, in his time, than the American plane; the reverse of which, it may be observed, is now the case; the Occidental plane being easily propagated by cuttings, and growing much more rapidly than the Oriental plane. In France, the Oriental plane was introduced from England, in the reign of Louis XV., about 1754; and it is valued there, as in England, only as an ornamental tree.

Poetical Allusions. Homer frequently mentions "the shady plane;" Theocritus tells us that the virgins of Sparta used to assemble round a plane tree, singing, "Reverence me, for I am the tree of Helen!" and Moschus says,— "I love to sleep beneath a leafy plane."

Among the Latins, Virgil calls it the sterile, and the aerial plane, in allusion to its not bearing eatable fruit, and to its height; and Horace invites Hirpinus to drink Falernian wine under its shade. Ovid, also, calls it "the genial plane." Among the oldest English poets we find no allusion to this tree; but Browne mentions

"The heavy-headed plane tree, by whose shade
The grape grows thickest, men are fresher made."

Among the modern British poets, Southey says, —

"And broad-leaved plane trees in long colonnades
O'erarch'd delightful walks,

Where round their trunks the thousand-tendril'd vine
Wound up, and hung the boughs with greener wreaths,
And clusters not their own."

Moore, in the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, calls it the chinar tree:

"While some, for war's more terrible attacks,
Wield the huge mace and pond'rous battle-axe;
And, as they wave aloft in Morning's beam

The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem
Like a chinar tree grove when Winter throws
O'er all its tufted heads his feathering snows."

And again, in Paradise and the Peri:

"Though sunny the lake of cool Cashmere,
With its plane tree isle reflected there."

Thalaba.

Properties and Uses. The Oriental plane, in a wild state, as far as we know, supports few or no insects; and still fewer lichens or fungi live on its bark, because that is continually scaling off. Very little use is made of the wood in the west of Europe; but in the Levant, and in Asia, it is said to be used in carpentry, joinery, and cabinet-making; and, according_to_Riccioli, who wrote in 1651, it was then employed in ship-building by the Turks. It is said to make beautiful furniture, on account of the smoothness of its grain, and its susceptibility of taking a high polish. Olivier says that its wood is not inferior for cabinet-work to any wood of Europe; and that the Persians employ no other for their furniture, their doors, and their windows. (Trav., i. p. 76.) The Greeks of Mount Athos, according to Belon, formed boats out of the trunks of large trees of this species, similar to those which are used in modern times on the Somme and on the Seine, in France. Sometimes, also, boats were made of two trunks hollowed out, and joined together so as to fit, and be water-tight. The wood of the Oriental plane, according to the experiments of M. Hassenfratz, weighs, when dry, 49 lb. 3 oz. per cubic foot: it is of a yellowish white till the tree attains considerable age; after which it becomes brown, mixed with jasper-like veins; and wood of this kind, being rubbed with

oil, and then highly polished, resembles the wood of the walnut. In Britain, as far as we know, the wood of the Oriental plane has scarcely been applied to any purpose either useful or ornamental; though for both it may be classed, as Marshall suggests, with that of the A'cer Pseudo-Plátanus; or, according to some French authors, with that of the beech or the hornbeam. By the Persians, and by the Greeks and Romans, as we have already seen, the tree, in a growing state, was greatly esteemed for its shade, and was planted near houses, in open groves, avenues, and rows, for that purpose. Pliny affirms that there is no tree whatsoever that defends us so well from the heat of the sun in summer, or that admits it more kindly in winter. Both properties result from the large size of its leaves: in summer, these present horizontal imbricated masses, which, while they are favourable to the passage of the breeze, yet exclude both the sun and the rain; while, as the distance at which the branches and twigs of trees are from one another, is always proportionate to the size of the leaves, hence the tree, in winter, is more than usually open to the sun's rays. As an ornamental tree, no one, which attains so large a size, has a finer appearance, standing singly, or in small groups, upon a lawn, where there is room to allow its lower branches, which stretch themselves horizontally to a considerable distance, gracefully to bend towards the ground, and turn up at their extremities. The peculiar characteristic of the tree, indeed, is the combination which it presents of majesty and gracefulness; an expression which is produced by the massive, and yet open and varied character of its head, the bending of its branches, and their feathering to the ground. In this respect, it is greatly superior to the lime tree, which comes nearest to it in the general character of the head; but which forms a much more compact and lumpish mass of foliage in summer, and, in winter, is so crowded with branches and spray, as to prevent, in a great measure, the sun from penetrating through them. The head of the plane tree, during sunshine, often abounds in what painters call flickering lights; the consequence of the branches of the head separating themselves into what may be called horizontal undulating strata, or, as it is called in artistical phraseology, tufting, easily put in motion by the wind, and through openings in which the rays of the sun penetrate, and strike on the foliage below. The tree is by no means so suitable for an extensive park, or for imitations of forest scenery, as most others; but, from its mild and gentle expression, its usefulness for shade in summer, and for admitting the sun in winter, it is peculiarly adapted for pleasure-grounds, and, where there is room, for planting near houses and buildings. For the latter purpose, it is particularly well adapted even in winter, from the colour of the bark of the trunk, which has a greyish white tint, not unlike the colour of some kinds of freestone. The colour of the foliage, in dry soil, is also of a dull greyish green; which, receiving the light in numerous horizontal tuftings, readily harmonises with the colour of stone walls. It appears, also, not to be much injured by smoke, since there are trees of it of considerable size in the very heart of London: one, for example, in Cheapside. Soil, Situation, Propagation, &c. A light deep free soil, moist, but not wet at bottom, is that on which the Oriental plane tree thrives best; and the situation should be sheltered, but, at the same time, not shaded or crowded by other trees. It will scarcely grow in strong clays, and on elevated exposed places; nor will it thrive in places where the lime tree does not prosper. The plane tree may be propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings. The seeds should be gathered in October or November; and, the balls being broken by the hand, or by threshing with a flail, the seeds may be separated from their husks, and cleaned by the usual processes, and either sown immediately, or mixed with sand, or fine sandy soil, and preserved in a place secure from frost till February or March. The seeds may also be kept in the balls, or catkins, till spring; either by allowing them to hang on the tree, or by gathering them in autumn, and spreading them out in a dry loft. The general practice is to sow the seeds in autumn, or as soon as gathered, or received from the Continent; choosing a moist rich soil, and a shady situation, and covering them

as lightly as those of the birch or alder are covered, or beating them in with the back of the spade, and not covering them at all; and protecting the beds with litter of some sort, to exclude the frost. (See p. 1685.) The plants will come up the following spring, and, after two years' growth, will be fit for transplanting into nursery lines, there to undergo the usual routine of nursery culture. (See P.occidentalis, Propagation and Culture.) Cuttings of the Oriental plane, put in in autumn, in a sandy soil, and in a shady situation, will root, but by no means readily; and, therefore, this method is never resorted to by nurserymen. Layers soonest produce saleable plants; and this mode is almost universally adopted, both in Britain and on the Continent. Layers may be made either in autumn or spring : they root freely, producing shoots 3 ft. or 4 ft. in length the first year; and they are ready to be taken off the following autumn. After being one year in the nursery lines, they may be removed to where they are finally to remain; but, if they are to be planted as single trees, and separately fenced, they should be kept in the nursery till they are 15 ft. or 20 ft. high; care being taken to transplant them every year, and to prune their heads in proportion to the losses sustained by their roots in transplanting. Trees so treated will seldom fail when removed to their final situation; but, if there should be any doubt of this, it may be removed, by cutting off the greater number of side branches from the head, shortening the leading shoot, and coating the wounds over with a composition, to exclude the air.

Statistics. Recorded Trees. In addition to the remarkable trees recorded by the Greek and Roman authors (see p. 2037.), the following may be noticed as having flourished in more modern times. Hasselquist mentions a plane tree in the island of Cos (now Stanchio), the circumference of the trunk of which was 25 British feet. He brought a specimen of the tree to Linnæus ; and it is now in the Linnæan herbarium. The celebrated plane tree at Buyukdère, or the Great Valley, is mentioned by Olivier, and, after him, by Pocqueville, Hobhouse, and various other writers. Olivier says that the trunk presents the appearance of 7 or 8 trees, having a common origin, which he supposes to be the stool of a decayed tree, and which were all connected at their base. Dr. Walsh, who measured the tree in 1831, found the trunk 141 ft. in circumference at the base, and its branches covering a space 130 ft. in diameter. The trunk, he says, "divides into 14 branches, some of which issue from below the present surface of the soil, and some do not divide till they rise 7 ft. or 8 ft. above it. One of the largest is hollowed out by fire, and affords a cabin to shelter a husband. man. The tree, if it can be considered a single plant, is certainly the largest in the world. Among other travellers who notice it is a Frenchman who describes it, with some truth, as un temple de verdure, surmonté d'un dôme prêt à toucher les nues.' When the Turks encamp in this valley, the hollow of this great tree affords a magnificent tent to the seraskier who commands them, with all his officers. But what renders the tree an object of more than usual interest is, that M. De Candolle conjectures that it must be more than 2000 years old. Though it has become such an object of ad. miration to recent travellers, Gillies takes no notice of it, nor even Tournefort, whose botanical pur. suits would naturally have led him to do so." (Residence in Constantinople, &c.) Near Nostizza, the Ecium of the ancients, on the beach of the stream Selinus, Hobhouse found "the enormous plane tree which was notorious in the time of Chandler. One of its largest branches, as thick as the trunk of most trees, has lately fallen off; and many of the other boughs are supported by long beams of wood." (Journ. of Travels in Albania, p. 229.) The same tree is described by Buckingham as being 15 ft. in diameter, and 100 ft. in height, and as being covered with rich and luxuriant foliage. The plane tree at Lee Court is mentioned by Evelyn as having been seen by him on September 16. 1683. A portrait of this tree was published by Strutt, in his Sylva Britannica, p. 112. The circumference of the trunk, when measured by Mr. Strutt, was 14 ft. 8 in. at 6 ft. from the ground; the height was 65 ft.; and it contained 301 cubic feet of timber. In Manning and Bray's Surrey, vol. iii. p. 136., several large Oriental planes are mentioned as growing at the seat of Sir William Temple, at Moor Park, near Farnham; but, being afterwards destroyed by the severe frost of 1808 and 1809, it is more than probable they were Occidental planes. Dr. Walker mentions several large plane trees as existing in Scotland in 1777; using the term sycamore, at that time generally applied to the platanus in Scotland. One of the largest was in the Isle of Bute, at Mount Stewart; where, on the 1st of September, 1786, the trunk measured 6 ft. 10 in. in circumference at 4 ft. from the ground. This tree was planted by the Earl of Bute in 1738. In the year 1771, there was a row of Platanus along the side of one of the streets in Rothsay, which grew there like willows; but, before the year 1774, they were all removed, to give place to new buildings. In Belgium, near Ghent, in the grounds of the villa of M. Meulemeester, Dr. Neill found, in 1817, an avenue of Oriental planes, the finest he ever saw. The trees were, in general, about 70 ft. high, trained up to the height of about 40 ft., and the trunks quite clean and healthy.

:

Existing Trees. In the environs of London, at Mount Grove, Hampstead, 80 years old, it is 77 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4 ft. 4 in., and of the head 90 ft.; in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, it is upwards of 70 ft. high; at Lambeth, the one before mentioned, 90 ft. high: and one in the grounds of the Duke of Devonshire's villa, at Chiswick, not very high, but with a head 100 ft. in diameter. South of London: in Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 25 years planted, it is 44 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3ft. 3 in., and that of the head S0 ft.: in Hampshire, at Alresford, 41 years planted, it is 76 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6in., and that of the head 52 ft.: in Somersetshire, at Nettlecombe, 40 years planted, it is 64 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft.: in Sussex, at West Dean, 15 years planted, it is 36 ft. high: in Wiltshire, at Wardour Castle, 40 years planted, it is 40 ft. high, the diame ter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and that of the head 38 ft.; at Longford Castle it is 60 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4 ft. 6 in., and that of the head 64 ft. North of London: in Berkshire, at White Knights, 19 years planted, it is 26 ft. high in Buckinghamshire, at Temple House, 13 years planted, it is 20 ft. high in Pembrokeshire, at Stackpole Court, 40 years planted, it is 60 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and that of the head 30 it.: in Shropshire, at Willey Park, 15 years planted, it is 26 ft. high: in Worcestershire, at Croome, 58 years planted, it is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and of