* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
If we had to choose a tree that is identified with Barcelona, this would surely be the shade plane. And, precisely, in autumn, its leaves form characteristic carpets on the city streets.
Furthermore, we could conclude that the leaves of this very Barcelona tree are the most artistic in the Catalan capital, since they have even been chosen to decorate the new panots (type of Barcelona tile) inspired by the shadow cast by the leaves of plane trees when they fall to the ground.
Because these types of ornamental trees are typical of the city's urban landscape (especially along the Diagonal), they wanted to pay tribute to them, in the same way that the popular Flor de la Flor design was created at the time. Barcelona, designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and originally designed for Casa Amatller between 1898 and 1900.
In this series of photographs in The Photos of the Readers of La Vanguardia, I have interpreted these leaves of the plane tree, represented in the new panot of Barcelona, with dynamism and with mixed colors, as a cultural, artistic, symbol of the welcome to different people from other countries in this city of such beauty.
These autumn days it is very normal to see the ocher-colored leaves of the plane trees dancing along the pavement of different parts of the city, moved by the wind.
The origin of this species is presumably a hybridization between Platanus orientalis and Platanus occidentalis or American. It was in the nurseries of the Prince of Aranjuez garden where the seeds of Platanus occidentalis from Louisiana (1778) were hybridized with the Platanus orientalis that had been planted much earlier.
Its name has nothing to do with edible plantains or bananas, but comes from the generic Platanus. This comes from the Greek word platys, which means "wide", alluding to the breadth of its leaves, leaves that in Barcelona are elevated to the category of art, especially in autumn.
