292 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



pules within the leaves, sheathing, downy, falling, leaving 

 their annular marks on the branchlets. Fruit paired, axil- 

 lar}', sessile; when ripe, the size and colour of a middle-sized 

 red cherry : downy. Calyx of the fruit three-nerved. 



" Note. — Fig. 1. of Plukenet's 178th table is a much better 

 figure of this tree than fig. 4. of the same table. 



" The Bramins are partial to the leaves of this tree to make 

 their plates to eat off; they are jointed together by inkles. 



" Bird-lime is prepared^from the^tenacious milky juice, 

 which every part of the tree yields on being wounded. 



" Birds eat the fruit, and the seeds grow the better for hav- 

 ing passed through them ; if they drop in the alse of the leaves 

 of the Palmyra tree, {Borassus Jiabelliformis, ) they grow 

 and extend their descending parts so as in time to embrace 

 entirely the parent Palmyra, except its upper parts. In 

 very old ones, the top thereof is just seen issuing from the 

 trunk of the Banyan as if it grew from thence, whereas it 

 runs down through its centre, and has its root in the ground, 

 the Palm being the oldest. For such the Hindoos entertain 

 a religious veneration ; saying it is a holy marriage instituted 

 by Providence." — Roxburgh. 



Tab. XIII. Sketch of a remarkable Banyan tree in the 

 island of Ceylon, from a drawing by Major Forbes. 



Tab. XIV. Portion of a branch of the Banyan tree (Ficus 

 Indica,) from Dr Roxburgh's collection of drawings. Fig. 

 1. portion of a branch, showing the fruit growing in pairs; 

 f. 2. fruit, nat. size. 



Flora of North America; containing abridged descrip- 

 tions of all the knoivn Indigenous a?id Naturalized Plants north 

 of Mexico, arranged according to the Natural System. By 

 Drs John Torrey and Asa Gray. Vol. I. Parts III. 

 and IV. 



The first two parts of this invaluable work we have already 

 noticed, in an early number of our Journal of Botany, and 

 much as we have commended them, the continuation is 



