Platanus x acerifolia (Ait.)Willd.: London Planetree


Distinguishing Characteristics:

Leaves: alternate, simple, 13-25 cm long and wide, palmately 3 or 5 lobed; base of long petiole covers bud

Flowers: tiny, greenish, in ball-like clusters

Fruit: 2.5 cm brown ball, usually in pairs on long stalk; composed of many narrow nutlets with hair tufts

Range: a hybrid of P. occidentalis of the eastern U.S. and P. orientalis of southeastern Europe; widely planted as an ornamental

Best Recognized Features:

1. Mottled bark

2. Fruit a brown ball, usually 2 on the stalk

3. Leaf about as broad as long with short lobes



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