THE MEXICAN AND Coe Tcas AMERICAN SPECIES OF 
By Pau C. STANDLEY. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The best-known representatives of the genus Ficus are the common 
cultivated fig, Ficus carica, and the rubber plant, F. elastica. The 
genus is a very large one, including, according to Engler,’ about 600 
species. The actual number is considerably greater, however, for 
many species have been described in the last 25 years, especially 
from Africa and the Philippine Islands. The species are distrib- 
uted throughout the Tropics, but they are most abundant in the East 
Indies and Africa. Thirty-three are reported from the West Indies 
by Warburg in his recent revision of the West Indian representa- 
tives of the genus, and about 50 are known to occur in South America. 
In the present paper 41 species are enumerated for Mexico and Cen- 
tral America. It is a remarkable fact that only two of these are 
common to the West Indies and Central America, and one of them 
is doubtfully indigenous to the latter region. 
The first species to be described from the area here treated was 
Ficus calyculata, published by Philip Miler in 1768.2 Unfortu- 
nately the description is so brief that Miller’s plant can not be 
identified with certainty. Kunth,’ in 1817, described five new 
species from Mexico. In 1851 Liebmann published ‘ the first exten- 
sive enumeration of the Mexican and Central American species, 
basing his report chiefly upon his own collections and those of 
Orsted. His list included 29 names, most of which were new. In 
1862 Miquel also published * a list for the same region, which in- 
cluded 40 names, several of them representing new species. Other 
authors have described isolated species, but most of those heretofore 
published from the area under discussion were founded by Liebmann 
1TIn Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 3): 89. 1889. 
2 Gard. Dict. ed. 8. Ficus no. 11. 
3 In H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 46-49. 
* Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Skrivt. V. 2: 319-333. 
5 Versl. Med. Kon. Akad. Amsterdam 18: 407-414. 
