Platanaceae - Plane family

Large moneocious trees; bark often flaking in plates. Leaves usually deciduous; simple, alternate (spiral), palmately lobed or unlobed; margins usually toothed; venation subpalmate. Stipules leaf-like encircling the stem. Inflorescences consisting of 1-7 dense spherical heads arranged in a raceme. Flowers unisexual; actinomorphic. Sepals basally fused or free. Petals reduced or absent. Ovary superior; carpels free. Fruit achene-like with tufts of hair, aggregated into dense heads.

Worldwide: 1 genus and 8 species in the Northern hemisphere

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated genus and 2 cultivated taxa.