Oriental plane

Hippocrates is said to have taught under a plane tree on Kos, and in almost every Greek village the square comes alive beneath a great plane.

A stately, long-lived broadleaf tree with a wide crown and bark that flakes off in patches, giving the trunk its distinctive mottled look. The leaves are large and deeply palmately lobed, and the fruits are gathered in round, dangling heads. In the wild it grows along streams and rivers, forming riparian forest in the valleys. It casts dense shade, so since antiquity it has been planted on squares and beside springs and temples.

Significance in the country

The plane is the tree of the Greek square (plateia): village life unfolds in its shade beside the kafeneio. Tradition links an old plane tree in the town of Kos with Hippocrates, the father of medicine.

Where it grows

Throughout the country along rivers and streams, from Thrace to Crete; also planted on village squares and beside springs.

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