Platanus orientalis L. (SE Eur., SW As.) – A regularly planted ornamental tree but only exceptionally seen as an escape from cultivation. Seedlings and saplings have been claimed on several occasions and from several different localities since 1996 but most claims probably are erroneous and refer to forms of the very variable P. hispanica (especially of its cv ‘Digitata’ with deeply lobed leaves). However, sexual reproduction of P. orientalis was confirmed in Brugge in 2018: at least 20 saplings were recorded between cracks of pavement and at the foot of walls, close to an ornamental plantation. Adult, fruit-bearing trees of P. orientalis are readily distinguished on infructescence characters: fruits are grouped in 3-6’s in P. orientalis whereas they are grouped in 2’s in P. hispanica.
Selected literature
Fotidar A.N. (1988) On the occurrence of Platanus orientalis L. in Kashmir. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 11(2): 423-432.
Santamour F.S. & Meyer F.G. (1970) Oriental plane cultivated in the United States. Amer. Hort. Mag. 49: 23-25.