‖ platanus
(ˈplætənəs)
Also 8–9 plantanus.
[L., a. Gr. πλάτανος: see plane n.1]
1. = platan. Also platanus-tree. Now rare.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxix. (Bodl. MS.), Platanus..haþ þat name for þe leues þerof ben playne brode and large. 1683 Evelyn Diary 16 Aug., He shewed me the zinnar tree or platanus. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 55 The Plantanus is a very beautiful Tree, and grows very well in England. 1808 Scott Autobiogr. in Lockhart Life I. i. 38 Beneath a huge platanus-tree..in the garden I have mentioned. |
2. Bot. The name of a genus of trees constituting the family Platanaceæ and consisting of from six to nine species, of which P. orientalis, P. occidentalis, and P. acerifolia, are among the best known. See plane n.1