524 MORACE/E (Hutcliinson). [Ficus. 



short filaments ; anthers more or less oblong or ovoid , exserted or 

 hicluded ; rudimentary ovary or very rarely present. Female 

 iluwer : perianth-segments often fewer and narrower than in the 

 male or rarely minute ; ovary mostly obliquely ellipsoid or ovoid ; 

 style almost invariabiy lateral, short or slender or rather long; 

 titigma usually oblong ; ovule laterally attached and pendulous 

 from near the^ipex of the cell : achene partially enclosed within the 

 persistent perianth ; pericarp crustaceous and dry or rarely succu- 

 lent ; seed pendulous, with a membranous testa ; albumen often 

 scanty ; embryo curved ; cotyledons often plicate and subequal ; 

 radicle incumbent. 



Trees, slirubs or rarely climberSj with milky juice ; leaves alternate or very 

 rarely opposite, entire, dentate, or varioiLsly lobed, very variable in shape and 

 venation ; stipules enveloping the terminal bud, caducous at the unfolding of the 

 leaves or more rarely persistent ; receptacles (figs) sessile or pedunculate, mcstly 

 paired when axillary or sometimes solitary, when borne on the trunk or main 

 branches remote from the leaves then in leafless panicles or more usually m 

 fascicles, 2-3-bracteate at the base with the bracts in a whorl or more rarely 

 several bracts scattered on the peduncle and over the receptacle ; bracts at the 

 ostiole (mouth) of the receptacle in several series, small, spreading horizontally 

 across the mouth and then visible from outside, or all descending abruptly mto 

 the interior of the receptacle and not visible from outside, the ostiole in the latter 

 case being pore-like ; male flowers in the African species usually ver^' few and 

 near the ostiole, rarely mixed amongst the female and ;gall-flowers ; female 

 flowers usually numerous and sessile ; gall-flowers mostly numerous and long- 

 pedicellate ; bracts among the flowers usually small and inconspicuous, or absent. 



DiSTlUB. About 700 species, spread throughout the tropics and subtropics of 

 ooth hemispheres, very numerous (about 180) in Tropical Africa. 



Ficus Carica, Linn., the common edible fig, is much cultivated in South Africa 

 and ia often fouud as a garden escape. In the Kew Herbariimi there is also a 

 specimen of F, return. Linn., a native of India, gathered by Medley AVood (4500) 

 at Berea, Xatal ; the leaves are small, obovate, with a distinct pair of basal nerves, 

 and the rece[)tacles are axillary, about the size of a small pea, sessile, glabrous, 

 with a few bracts overlapping the mouth of the ostiole. Dried material has also 

 been seen of Flcus exasperata^ Vahl, from culti\ ated plants in the Natal Botanic 

 Garden. This species is a native of Tropical Africa, where it is very widely 

 spread ; the leaves are so rough that they are used by the natives as a substitute 

 for sandpaper. Several Indian species are also grown in the Natal Botanic Garden, 

 mostly as ornamental shrubs or trees. 



* 



Ostiole (mouth) of the receptacle with the bracts visible 

 from the outside and spreading transversely across 

 the orifice ; basal bracts 3 or more : 

 fBasal bracts of the receptacle arranged in a shigle whorl 

 at the apex of the peduncle : 

 Male^ flowers with 2 stamens ; receptacles arranged 

 in x*amcle3 on the main stem or branches remote 

 from the leaves : 

 ^Mature receptacles tomentose ; leaves suborbicular 



or elliptic-orbicular, entke (1) Sycomorus 



^Mature receptacles glabrous ; leaves ovate or ovate- 

 elliptic, mostly repand-dent-ate (2) capensis. 



Male flowers with a single stamen ; receptacles 

 axillarv : 



