on the Hortus Malabaricus, Part III. 147 
TssELA, p. 85. t. 63. 
The natives of Malabar seem to consider this Ficus as the 
prototype of a genus, giving it no specific name. What Tela 
, means, I do not know; but Asouatou (the name used by the 
Brahmans) is the same with Aswattha, a name given by the 
Bengalese to the Ficus religiosa. Both indeed are very nearly |. 
allied; for they have sessile figs growing in pairs, and neither 
sends roots from the branches. Further, both are usually para- 
sitical plants, and at first take root either on other trees or on 
walls, which they soon destroy, leaving a congeries of roots 
above-ground in place of a stem. Both however, if planted in 
. the ground, thrive well, and produce stately and ornamental 
stems. ‘There are, however, several other Fici which grow in a 
similar parasitical manner ; and among these, some of the kinds 
called Varinga by Rumphius, and Alou by Rheede, although 
these send roots from their branches. 
Plukenet after Ray calls this plant Ficus Malabarica, fructu 
Ribesii forma et magnitudine, Tsiela dicta (Alm. 145.), and com- 
pares it to the Arbor Sycophora Caryophylli aromatici foliis et 
facie Jamaicensis (Alm. 42.), of which a figure is given in the 
Phytographia (t. 966. f. 1.). Plukenet, however, merely com- 
pares the plants, and by no means says that they are the same. 
He adds in a concluding sentence, that from its branches it 
sends down fibres, which take root: but it is not perfectly clear - 
whether he means this to apply to the Tsie/a or to the plant of 
Jamaica. If he meant the former, he was misinformed, as 
Rheede does not say a word of such a circumstance; and all 
persons whom I consulted agreed in denying its taking place. 
.Plukenet himself seems to have been sensible of some error 
here; for in the Mantissa, 75, he considers the Tsjela as pro- 
bably being the Ficus Indica Mali Limonie: folio, subtus canes- 
v2 CC NH, 
