Large deciduous trees with bark flaking in thin plates. Most parts have a covering of star-shaped hairs (hand lens), at least at first. Leaves alternate, simple, 3-9 lobed; stipules large, soon shed. Leaf stalk swollen at the base and surrounding the young buds. Sexes separate but on the same tree. Flowers 1-several together in round heads on long stalks. Sepals, petals (where present) and stamens 3-8. Carpels 3-8, free. Ovary superior. Fruits ball-like, hanging on long stalks, usually several per stalk, consisting of numerous hairy nutlets, the styles persistent and surrounded by bristly hairs.
The family is probably related to the Hamamelidaceae.
The wood is used for furniture, veneers and pulp.
Fruits forming clusters of stalked balls.
1 genus with about 7 species from temperate regions, mostly North America (1 from E Asia and 1 from the Balkans and Himalaya).
Source: (1997). Platanaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
