London Plane (Platanus acerifolia)

The London plane tree arose as a chance hybrid between two foreign trees, possibly at Oxford, in about 1670. One parent is the Oriental plane, P. orientalis, from Turkey; the other is the American sycamore, P. occidentalis, from the eastern United States.

The bark is smooth and grayish brown and peels off in puzzle-shaped pieces to reveal a tan or pale green trunk beneath. The reason for this unusual adaptation is the bark’s lack of elasticity; the outer layer cannot expand as rapidly as the tree inside it. Trees take in oxygen through their bark as well as their leaves, so it turns out this bark shedding allows the plane to thrive in air pollution. For this reason it is planted in cities all over the world.

While I applauded my father’s embrace of such an adaptable tree—not to mention his perseverance and cunning; this tree sheet was folded into an outside pocket of Grendel—the fall foliage of the plane is notably unspectacular and the abscission, or leaf drop, is late and sudden, a torment to landscapers. I know what Blake thinks of the ones we already have on campus, and I didn’t want to be responsible for adding another.