Vn.  THE  BUTTONWOOD  TREE.  271

In  the  Levant,  in  Persia,  and  in  other  parts  of  Asia,  where
timber  trees  are  few,  and  where  the  oriental  plane  is  the  com-
monest of  trees,  it  is  much  used  in  carpentry,  joinery,  cabinet-
making,  and  even  in  ship-building.  Olivier  says,^  "  The  plane
tree  grows  naturally  throughout  all  the  East:  it  is  common  on
the  banks  of  the  rivulets  in  Greece,  in  the  islands  of  the  Archi-
pelago, on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  in  Syria,  and  in  Persia."
"  Its  wood  is  not  inferior  for  cabinet-work  to  any  wood  of
Europe ;  it  takes  a  beautiful  polish,  and  is  very  agreeably
veined  ;  "  and  "  the  Persians  employ  no  other  for  their  fumi-
ture,  their  doors,  and  their  windows."'  That  it  has  a  beautiful
surface  and  a  very  smooth  grain ;  and  that  it  takes  a  brilliant
polish,  is  seen  in  the  famous  Scotch  snuff-boxes,  which  are
made  of  it.
Mr.  Nuttall  has  described  '  a  remarkably  distinct  species  of
plane  tree,  which  he  calls  the  California  buttonwood,  PlatanuB
racemd9U9,  The  leaves  are  ^^  divided  more  than  half  way  down
into  five  sharp-pointed,  lanceolate  portions,  of  which  the  two
lower  are  the  smallest ;  all  the  divisions  are  quite  entire,  two
of  them  in  small  leaves  are  suppressed,  thus  producing  a  leaf
of  only  three  parts.  Above,  as  usual,  the  surface  is  at  first
clad  with  a  yellowish,  copious  down,  formed  of  ramified  hairs,
which  quickly  falls  off  and  spreads  itself  in  the  atmosphere.
