Platanus Tree Leaf Stock Photo

Platanus is a small genus of trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. The hybrid London Plane has proved particularly tolerant of urban conditions. They are known as planes or plane trees. The flowers are reduced and are borne in balls (globose head); 3–7 hairy sepals may be fused at base, and the petals are 3–7 (or no) and spathulate. Male and female flowers are separate, but on the same plant (monoecious). The number of heads in one cluster (inflorescence) is indicative of the species (see table below). The male flower has with 3–8 stamens; the female has a superior ovary with 3–7 carpels. Plane trees are wind-pollinated. Male flower-heads fall off the branch after shedding their pollen. They are known as planes or plane trees. Some are sometimes called sycamores (especially the North American Platanus occidentalis), although that term also refers to either the fig Ficus sycomorus, the plant originally so named, or the Great, or Sycamore Maple, Acer pseudoplatanus.