BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 403 
Sometimes Amyris Gileadensis is used, and while it very 
. much resembles the hawthorn of Europe, quite equals it 
_ asa fence. About Coimbatore a species of Viscum grows 
. very commonly on the two first kinds of Euphorbia, a fact 
. at variance with the assertion of De Candolle, (Prodr. 4, 
p. 277), that the Loranthacee “vegetant super omnes 
fere arbores dicotyledoneas, Jactiferis exceptis.” In many 
places by the sides of the road, splendid specimens of the 
. Tamarind and Wild Figs may be seen. The most common 
of the latter is the Ficus Benjamina, very remarkable for 
. the profusion of roots which it throws down from its 
3 branches. These, when they reach the ground, became 
. Secondary stems, as in the true Banyan tree. Those who 
. wish additional facts to prove that the wood of Exogenous 
trees is formed by bud roots, have only to look at one 
_ of these trees to be fully convinced of the truth of this 
beautiful doctrine. The main stem of some of them, indeed - 
I may say of all does not form one solid mass, as 
"usually occurs in other trees, but is a congeries of thick 
branching roots, which come down from the lower ends of 
the large branches, surround the original shoot or stem, and 
Overlay each other in such an open reticulated manner, that 
daylisht can often be seen through a trunk several feet in 
diameter. It is also curious to observe that the long hori- 
. Zontal main branches of these trees have not the conical 
- Shape, or at least not so much, as those of other trees. What 
is the cause of this? The explanation is very simple. The 
Toots which are sent down from the buds between the bark 
and the previously formed wood, in place of reaching the 
lower part of the branch, are thrown out along the course 
9f it in masses, which, as I have before stated, resemble 
enormous horse-tails, and hence the necessity which the 
branches of such trees have for the supports which are 
formed by these roots when they reach the ground. In- 
Stances have been known of the main trunk of these trees, ak 
hough totally destroyed, yet continuing to live, its functions — 
wg performed, and the whole mass. supported, by the - 
