on the Hortus Malabaricus, Part III. 135 
but as it has smooth leaves, it can be neither one nor the other. 
. The proper synonyma of the Peralu, which Commeline referred 
to the Katou Alou, Plukenet (Alm. 144.) refers to his Ficus In- 
dica Tilie folio, subtus albo et villoso, polyrhizos, seu filamentis e 
summis ramis ad terram missis radicosa, which he procured from 
the sea-shore of Barbadoes, and of which a figure is given 
(t. 178. f. 3.) ; and with this also he confounds the Pipal of the 
Bengalese, although in f. 2. he gives a representation of this 
plant which cannot be mistaken. The plant of Barbadoes by 
M. Lamarck (Enc. Meth. iii. 352.) is referred to the Hibiscus 
tiliaceus, not without strong grounds; yet it is difficult to sup- 
pose such an error in Plukenet, especially as he no doubt 
represents the Hibiscus tiliaceus in another place (Amalth. vi. 
t. 355. f. 5.). lI am therefore inclined to follow Willdenow in 
thinking the plant of Barbadoes to be at least a Ficus (Sp. PI. 
iv. 1133.), although I doubt much of its being the Sycomorus of 
Egypt, as he supposes. The figure no doubt resembles a good 
deal that of the Sycomorus Mathioli in John Bauhin (Hist. Plant. 
i. 124. f. 1.) ;—but who ever heard of the Sycamore growing in 
Barbadoes as a Mangrove? This opinion originated probably 
with Burman (Fl. Ind. 225.) ; and I doubt as much of the fact 
of the Sycamorus being found in the East, as in the West, Indies. 
The plant that Burman mistook for it is probably what I take to be 
the Ficus Caricoides of Dr. Roxburgh (Hort. Beng. 65.), of which 
I have deposited specimens in the library at the India House. 
Having thus endeavoured to correct the error into which I 
fell when treating of the Peralu and Ficus Indica, and to show 
that neither it nor the Katou Alou was known to Plukenet, I 
return to Burman, who, following the first edition of the Species 
Plantarum, gives us (Fl. Ind. 225.) the Katou Alow as the true 
Ficus Indica of the ancients, but without quoting any American 
plant as synonymous. He however adds as a variety the Tela, 
to 
