The plane tree
The Wood Guide · The forests
Tree portraitThe plane tree
A striking presence in streets and parks, with a mottled trunk no other tree can copy. And a trick that makes it superbly resistant to the city.
- Platanus × hispanica
- 200 to 400 years
- 30 to 40 metres
The plane tree at a glance
The tree you recognise by its mottled, flaking trunk — a camouflage pattern in cream, olive and grey.
That flaking is not a disease but a strategy, and exactly why the plane copes so well with the city. The bark of most trees grows along and holds on to everything that settles on it: soot, fine dust, exhaust fumes. The plane simply sheds its outer layer of bark, and the pollution with it.
Add to that the fact that it tolerates heavy pruning, makes few demands on the soil and lives up to four hundred years, and you understand why it has lined the avenues of almost every European city since the nineteenth century.
The common London plane is Platanus × hispanica, a cross between the oriental plane from the Balkans and Asia Minor and the American sycamore from North America. That cross arose in the seventeenth century in European gardens, where both parents stood side by side for the first time — the tree that now dominates the European city did not exist in nature.
- Botanical
- Platanus × hispanica
- Lifespan
- 200 to 400 years
- Height
- 30 to 40 metres
- Bark
- mottled, flakes off in plates
- Leaves
- large, palmately lobed
- Fruits
- spherical balls on a long stalk
To be fair: plane trees cause nuisance where people live. The fine hairs of the fruit balls come loose in spring and can irritate the airways; the large leaves block gutters; and the vigorous root system lifts pavements and sewers. For an ordinary garden it is almost always too big a tree.
It sheds pollution
The mottled trunk — cream, olive and grey — flakes off in plates. The bark of most trees holds on to soot, fine dust and exhaust fumes; the plane simply sheds its outer layer, and the pollution with it.
Click a chapter or use the arrows · trees and bark schematic.
Unmistakable by its trunk
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Lifespan | 200 to 400 years |
| Height | 30 to 40 metres |
| Bark | Mottled, flakes off in irregular plates |
| Leaves | Large and palmately lobed, like a maple leaf but bigger |
| Growth rate | Moderate to fast |
| Fruits | Spherical balls, hanging on a long stalk |
| Crown | Broad and round |
Why the plane became the avenue tree
It sheds pollution
By flaking off its bark in plates, it removes the soot and fine dust that have settled on it — a cleaning that other trees don't have.
It tolerates heavy pruning
Plane trees can be cut back to the knuckles and sprout again. That makes pleached planes and pollarded forms possible where space is limited.
It isn't fussy
Compacted urban soil, little water, lots of heat — the plane tolerates conditions in which most trees languish.
It gives plenty of shade
Large leaves and a broad crown: exactly what a city street needs in a heatwave.
For several decades the fungal disease Massaria has been affecting plane trees in European cities. It attacks branches, which can then suddenly break off, without the tree looking ill. Municipal services therefore inspect plane trees more often and more thoroughly than other avenue trees.
What the plane tree yields
Fine flecks
Quarter-sawn plane shows a striking number of small, shiny medullary rays. In England this is called lacewood, and it is sought after as veneer.
Medium-hard and stable
Comparable to beech: hard enough for furniture, but not durable and therefore for indoor use only.
Limited availability
Plane trees are planted to stand, not to be harvested. The wood almost always comes from trees felled for other reasons.
Not for outdoors
Not very durable and susceptible to fungi. Indoors the figure really comes into its own.
Frequently asked questions about the plane tree
Why does plane tree bark flake off?
To shed pollution. Where other trees hold soot and fine dust on their bark, the plane throws off its outer layer — one of the reasons it copes so well with the city.
Is the plane tree a native tree?
No. The avenue plane is Platanus × hispanica, a cross between the oriental plane and the American sycamore that arose in European gardens in the seventeenth century.
Is a plane tree suitable for a garden?
Rarely. It grows thirty to forty metres tall, its roots lift paving and its fruit balls release irritating hairs. For an ordinary garden it is too big a tree.
What is lacewood?
The English name for quarter-sawn plane wood, which shows a striking number of small, shiny medullary rays. It is used mainly as decorative veneer.
The plane tree in perspective
A tree that did not arise in nature and yet copes with the city better than any other.
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Photo via Wikimedia Commons: Platanus × hispanica — Francoerbi, CC0