Dec. 2, 190S.] A(/riculturctl Gazette of N.SJF. 967 



As regards Austrdliau ti-ees, I wrote some years ago that the tVuit, wliich 

 is of a light red colour when ripe, hangs in clusters along the trunk ami on 

 some of the highest branches, and is used as food l)y the aborigines. 

 Mr. C. Hedley {Prnc. R.S. QcL, v) mentions that the Port Curtis l)lacks 

 feed on them, and at the same time states that the settlers make excellent 

 jelly of them. Palmer makes a similar observation. Perhaps this Fig is 

 referred to in the following passage, written about 1 770 : — " To tlie northward 

 we had a kind of very indifferent fig {Ficus caudicijlora), growing from the 

 stalk of a tree." — {Journal of the Right J Jon. Sir Jos'^pli Banks, jj. 299.) 

 This was contirmed in the Journal of Botany, 1901, p. 4. 



The ripe fruit is eaten, and is good either raw or stewed (Gamble). 



Brandis, however, says : " In times of scarcity the unrijie fi'uit is pounded, 



mixed with flour, and made into cakes." 



This tree possesses an astringent bark ; this, as well as the fruit, wliich is considered 

 to have similar properties, is prescrilied in lueniaturia, nienorrhagia, and lutmoptysis. 

 The dose is about 200 grains. The fruit, tilled with sugar, is considered to be very 

 cooling, and the small, blister-like galls which are common on the leaves, soaked in milk 

 and mixed with honey, are given to prevent pitting in smallpox. Ainslie tells us that 

 " from the root of the tree, which in Tamil is called Attievayr, there exudes, on its being 

 out, a fluid which is cauglit in earthen pots, and which the Vytians consider a powerful 

 tonic when drunk for several days together." In Bombay the sap is a popular remedy, 

 which is locally applied to mumps and other inflammatory glandular enlargements, and 

 is used in gonorrhcea. (DyniocK, Materia Meilica of iVi'sttnt India.) 



The leaves are used in India for cattle and elephant fodder (Gamble). 



Bird-lime is made in India oi the milky juice of tliis tree. 



The timber, like that of Figs in general, is of little value : 1)ut the tree, 

 from the way in Avhich the fruit grows, is one of the most interesting of trees 

 to many people, and is therefore worthy oE a place in the garden of a lover 

 of trees. 



L 29 b. 



14. F. habropht/Ua, G. Bennett. Native of the New Hebrides. 



See Bennett's " Gatherings of a Naturalist," p. 341. Nomen nudumthen, 



but description furnished by Seemann. Fl. Vitiensis, p. 248. 



F. habrophylla, G. Bennett, op. rif. ; arborea ; ramulis, petiolis receptaculisque 

 velutino-pubescentibuK ; foliis alternis obovato— oblongis integerrimis attenuatis basi 

 cordatis penninerviis, venis primariis utrinque 1.V17, glabris ; receptaculis axillanbus 

 geminis pedunculatis obovato-obtusis iiedunculo medio artieulato .S-bracteato, bracteis 

 ovatis acutis.— Tana, New Hebrides. Cultivated in the Botanic (hardens, Sydney, New 

 South Wales. Branchlets stout. Largest leaves from 12-15 inches long and from G-8 

 inches broad. Eeceptacles as large as those of the ordinary garden Fig. 



This is the tree probably referred to by Mr. Guilfoyle (see F. Bennettii) as 

 having been named F. pandariforme by the late W. Sharp ^Slacleay, and 

 distributed under that name. 



It is of the F. Bennettii character, but less umbrageous. The leaves are 

 exceedingly large in a young state, and are softer than those of F. Tanensis, 

 and less bullate than in that specit s. The bases of the leaves are more or 

 less cordate and the margins of the leaves are more or less toothed, which is 

 accentuated towards the base. The size of the leaves is now about 1 foot to 

 1.5 inches, and 5 inches wide. Formerly they were 2 feet long. 



M 17. (Amongst the Palms.) 



