Editing Platanus (section)

==Botany==
[[Image:Platane, Trsteno.JPG|thumb|Trunk of an aged ''Platanus orientalis'', in Trsteno, near [[Dubrovnik]], Croatia]]
[[File:Plane tree fruit 20180707 092951.jpg|thumb|Ripe plane tree fruit]]
The flowers are reduced and are borne in balls (globose heads); 3–7 hairy [[sepal]]s may be fused at the base, and the petals are 3–7 and are [[Leaf shape|spatulate]]. Male and female flowers are separate, but borne on the same plant ([[Monoecy|monoecious]]). The number of heads in one cluster ([[inflorescence]]) is indicative of the species (see table below). The male flower has 3–8 [[stamen]]s; the female has a superior ovary with 3–7 [[carpel]]s. Plane trees are wind-pollinated. Male flower-heads fall off after shedding their pollen.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

After being pollinated, the female flowers become [[achene]]s that form an aggregate ball. The fruit is a multiple of achenes  (plant systematics, Simpson M. G., 2006).  Typically, the core of the ball is 1&nbsp;cm in diameter and is covered with a net of mesh 1&nbsp;mm, which can be peeled off. The ball is 2.5–4&nbsp;cm in diameter and contains several hundred achenes, each of which has a single seed and is conical, with the point attached downward to the net at the surface of the ball. There is also a tuft of many thin stiff yellow-green bristle fibers attached to the base of each achene. These bristles help in wind dispersion of the fruits as in the [[dandelion]].{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The leaves are [[leaf shape|simple]] and alternate. In the subgenus ''Platanus'' they have a palmate outline. The base of the leaf stalk (petiole) is enlarged and completely wraps around the young stem bud in its axil. The axillary bud is exposed only after the leaf falls off.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The mature bark peels off or exfoliates easily in irregularly shaped patches, producing a mottled, scaly appearance. On old trunks, bark may not flake off, but thickens and cracks instead.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}