London plane

American  

noun

1. a tall, hardy, widely spreading plane tree, Platanus acerifolia, of North America, having clusters of round, bristly fruit.

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Etymology

Origin of London plane

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

They were fashionable, popular, and European—Silvera Seamans described the popularity of the London plane as “a European fever dream in city planning.”

From Slate • Mar. 16, 2024

The design’s path, meandering downhill beneath a canopy of London plane trees and crisscrossing a stream, led viewers into a sunken oval bowl teeming with a luxurious planted garden.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2023

The work began at a wrinkled grayish London plane tree next to the Walla Walla High School football field.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 1, 2023

Though ichnologists, who study trace fossils, might discount leaves, I marveled at those too: most of a London plane and a ginkgo, with its corrugated fan.

From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2023

Since then the growth of trees in Edinburgh, especially in what was once the North Loch, has been greatly improved; and might be still further improved if that famous tree, "The London plane," were employed.

From James Nasmyth: Engineer; an autobiography by Smiles, Samuel