=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy along the southern shores of New England; grows in good wet or dry soils, preferring clays. Young plants are tender in Massachusetts, but if protected a few seasons until well established make hardy trees of medium size. It is offered by nurserymen, but must be frequently transplanted to be moved with safety; rate of growth rather slow and nearly uniform to maturity. Propagated from seed. [Illustration: PLATE LV.--Liquidambar styraciflua.] 1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Sterile flower. 4. Fertile flower. 5. Fruiting branch. PLATANACEAE. PLANE-TREE FAMILY. =Platanus occidentalis, L.= BUTTONWOOD. SYCAMORE. BUTTONBALL. PLANE TREE. =Habitat and Range.=--Near streams, river bottoms, and low, damp woods. Ontario. Maine,--apparently restricted to York county; New Hampshire,--Merrimac valley towards the coast; along the Connecticut as far as Walpole; Vermont,--scattering along the river shores, quite abundant along the Hoosac in Pownal (Eggleston); Massachusetts,--occasional; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--rather common. South to Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas. =Habit.=--A tree of the first magnitude, 50-100 feet and upwards in height, with a diameter of 3-8 feet; reaching in the rich alluvium of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys a maximum of 125 feet in height and a diameter of 20 feet; the largest tree of the New England forest, conspicuous by its great height, massive trunk and branches, and by its magnificent, wide-spreading, dome-shaped or pyramidal, open head. The sunlight, streaming through the large-leafed, rusty foliage, reveals the curiously mottled patchwork bark; and the long-stemmed, globular fruit swings to every breeze till spring comes again. The lower branches are often very long and almost horizontal, and the branchlets frequently have a tufted, broom-like appearance, due probably to the action of a fungous disease on the young growth. =Bark.=--Bark of trunk and large branches dark greenish-gray, sometimes rough and closely adherent, but usually flaking off in broad, thin, brittle scales, exposing the green or buff inner bark, which becomes nearly white on exposure; branchlets light brown, sometimes ridgy towards the ends, marked with numerous inconspicuous dots. =Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, ovate, obtuse, enclosed in the swollen base of a petiole, and, after the fall of the leaf, encircled by the leaf-scar. Leaves simple, alternate, 5-6 inches long, 7-10 wide, pubescent on both sides when young, at maturity light rusty-green above, light green beneath, finally smooth, turning yellow in autumn, coriaceous; outline reniform; margin coarse-toothed or sinuate-lobed, the short lobes ending in a sharp point; base heart-shaped to nearly truncate; leafstalk 1-2 inches long, swollen at the base; stipules sheathing, often united, forming a sort of ruffle.