Flowering time and fertilization
From April, at the latest in May, the plane tree will grow new ones leaves off, and at the same time also hers blossoms. The tree is single-sexed, i.e. it bears male and female flowers at the same time. The male inflorescences are greenish in color, while the female are wine red.
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The flowers are pollinated by the wind. The male flowers fall off earlier than the female.
Round fruits
Fruits can only develop from the female flowers. However, these are a long time coming. Because although the plane tree blooms in spring, it doesn't hang on the tree until October. Neither the flowers nor the fruits are bursting with beauty, but they have one interesting feature: their spherical shape.
- each fruit ball has approx. 3 cm in diameter
- the fruits hang from the branch on thin stalks
- usually two fruits on each stem
- the stem has a total length of 15 to 20 cm
- the unripe fruits are light green
- as they ripen, they turn brown
Tips
Be careful when you come into contact with the fruit. They, but also the leaves, have fine hairs that can be inhaled. This can lead to allergic reactions, comparable to hay fever.
Nuts and seeds
The fruits of the plane tree belong to the group of nut fruits. The fruit balls contain a large number of cylindrical nuts in which the seeds are hidden. The fruits are not poisonous for us humans, but because of their hardness they are not really edible either.
In winter the fruits become rotten and fall off the tree. This is also the moment when the ripe seeds are accessible to wind and water. They can later germinate on the spot or are spread by birds, wind, and water.
Use seeds for propagation
Anyone at home can make a new sinker from the seeds of a plane tree multiply. But be careful: Not all varieties provide germinable seeds. The seeds are stored dry over the winter. the sowing takes place in the following summer.
Growing plane trees from seeds is only for the patient gardener, because it takes a long time for a larger tree to develop from it. The upside is that it's as good as free as opposed to nursery specimens. However, there is no guarantee that the young plant is largely genetically identical to the mother tree.