Pictis caricaj 



THE COiMiMON FIG-TREE. 



Si/noni/mes. 



Ficus cariiui, 



Figuier cultive, Figuier commun, Bou, 



Geineiner Feigenbaum, 



Fico, 



Fig-tree, Common Fig-tree, 



LinnjKhs, Species Plantarum. 



Di; IIamkl, Traiie dcs Arbres et Arbustes. 



Loudon, Arboretum Brilaniiiciim 



Franoi!.. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo- America. 



Derivation. The specific name carica is supposed to be derived from Caria, in Asia ; wiience this species is said originany 

 to have tieen brought. 



Engrarings. Du Hamel, Trail6 de3 Arbres el Arbustes, pi. 53; LouJon, Arboretum Brilannicum, vii., pi. 229; and thj 

 rigures lielovv. 



Specific Characters. Leaves palmate and sub-trilobate ; rough above, pubescent beneath. 



Description. 



large 



HE Ficiis carica is a 



shrub or low tree, sometimes 



growing, under favourable 



circumstances, to a height of 

 twenty-five to thirty feet, with a trunk from a foot to 

 a foot and a half in diameter; but usually it does not 

 much exceed one half of these dimensions. The 

 branches, when young, are clothed with short hairs, 

 but become smoother with age; and the bark of the 

 trunk is of an ash-colour, or greenish-gray. The 

 leaves, which are annual in the temperate zones, and 

 perennial within the tropics, are comparatively small, 

 in a wild state, entire, or not much cut; but, in the 

 cultivated varieties, they are very large, cordate, deeply cut, with from three to 

 five lobes, thick, rough on the upper surface, and pubescent beneath. The fruit 

 consists of a pulp, containing a number of seed-like pericarps, enclosed in a blue 

 or black, red or purple, green or yellow, or white rind. Botanically, it is a turbi- 

 nate berry, hollow within, and is produced chiefly on the upper part of the shoots 

 of the former year, in the axils of the leaves, on small, round peduncles. It first 

 protrudes from the branches, without any visible flower, in the form of little buds, 

 with a perforation at the end, but not opening or showing anything like petals, or 

 any of the common organs of fructification. The flowers come to maturity 

 in concealment, in what is considered as the fruit; that is, an ordinary calyx 

 or receptacle, which is usually, but not always, entire and connivent ; for, there 

 are some few sorts, in which the fruit constantly opens when it approaches matu- 

 rity, commonly dividing into four parts, that expand like the petals of a flower, 

 to such an extent, that each division iDecomes perpendicular to its stem.* The 

 male flowers, which are comparatively few, are inserted near the perforation at 

 the extremity of the receptacle, or fruit ; but the female flowers are very numer- 



* The varieties which exhibit this singularity, are called, in the " Nouveau Du Hamel," Barnissntes 

 a.id Verdales 



