

164 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



itable grove of distinct trees though for its greater extent 

 it is still one many-columned tree* 



i Curious freaks of the roots of various species of the 

 genus, aside from this biological peculiarity, are noted by 

 Hooker,* Kerner,f and others; and the production of 

 columnar roots beneath the branches of banvans and some 

 other figs is too well known to require more than passing 



mention, t 



i In the Huasteca region, large areas are occupied by 

 almost pure forests of the east-coast tree palmetto (Sabal 

 Mexicana of most writers; Inodes sp. of Cooke). When 

 not injured by fire, — for the pastures in which they stand 

 are frequently burned over at the end of the dry season, 

 these palms have the upper part, at least, of the stem 

 covered by long-persistent petiole bases from which the 

 old leaves have broken away. These form a very good 

 nidus for the bird-disseminated seeds of the fig, which, 

 germinating, give rise to plants that live for a few years as 

 true epiphytes, forming bushy growths below or among the 

 apical leaves of the palm (plates 39, 43).§ Later, begins 

 the characteristic formation of descending and encircling, 







often anastomosed, roots (plates 39, 40, 43). It is these 

 which, becoming at length largely or entirely confluent 



(plate 41), constitute the pseudo-trunk of the fig, 

 hollow at the center through which the original palmetto 



host passes, often persisting until a very advanced age and 

 size of the strangler have been attained (plates 42, 43), its 



* Hooker, Himalayan Journals. 2 : 271. frontispiece. 



t Kerne r, Pflanzen-Leben ; English translation, 1 : 710. /. 171. 2 : 



753. f. 428. 



% See, for a few striking illustrations: Kerner, I. C, English transla- 

 tion. 1 :757. — Schimper, I. c, English translation. 322./. 162 (F. Ben- 

 galensis). — Gardeners' Chronicle. III. 4:214. pi. — S[argent], Garden 



& Forest. 1 : 128./. (F. aurea). 



§ F. Bonplandiana has been distributed by Pringle (no. 3907) from 

 Micos, somewhat further up the mountain, with a note showing that it 

 develops in the same way. 



