  We introduce a monoid structure on the set of binary search trees, by a
process very similar to the construction of the plactic monoid, the
Robinson-Schensted insertion being replaced by the binary search tree
insertion. This leads to a new construction of the algebra of Planar Binary
Trees of Loday-Ronco, defining it in the same way as Non-Commutative Symmetric
Functions and Free Symmetric Functions. We briefly explain how the main known
properties of the Loday-Ronco algebra can be described and proved with this
combinatorial point of view, and then discuss it from a representation
theoretical point of view, which in turns leads to new combinatorial properties
of binary trees.
