cxYi. urticace.t;. 643 



Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 323 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 1, p. 290.— 

 Flowers : Apr.-June. 



S. M. Country : Dharwar district, common in hedges, Talhot. Kanaka: Bimwasi, 

 Sirsi subdivision of N. Kanara, Talbot. —Di&Tm^. India (Subhimalayan tract from the 

 Panjab eastwards, W. Peninsula) ; Ceylon. 



16. FICUS, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs sometimes scandent or epiphytic (at least primarily); 

 juice milky. Leaves alternate (rarely opposite), entire, lobed, serrate 

 or toothed ; stipules clothing the bud, caducous. Flowers minute, 

 1-sexual, monoecious (very rarely dioecious) on the inner walls of a fleshy 

 receptacle the mouth of which is closed by imbricate bracts ; florets often 

 mixed with bracteoles, of four forms, male, female, gall, and (rarely) 

 neuter ; receptacles usually androgynous, the males nearest the mouth ; 

 males, females, and galls may occur in the same receptacle, or males and 

 galls may be in one set, females and neuters in another, or males and 

 galls in one set, females only in another. Male flowees : Perianth 

 2-6-fid or -partite. Stamens 1 or 2 (rarely 3-6), erect in bud. Neuter 

 FLOWERS : Perianth as in the male. Female flowers : Perianth as in 

 the male or itnperfect or obsolete. Ovary straight or oblique ; ovule 

 pendulous ; style excenti'ic ; stigma entire or 2-armed, acute or obtuse. 

 Gall flowers : Perianth as in the female. Ovary containing the pupa 

 of a hymenopterous insect ; style short, often dilated upwards. Fruit 

 an enlarged hollow cup-shaped closed receptacle, the inner wall studded 

 with crustaceous or fleshy achenes. Seed pendulous; testa membranous; 

 albumen scanty ; embryo curved ; cotyledons equal or unequal ; radicle 

 ascending. — Distrib. Species about 600, mostly tropical. 



The Indian Figs have been so minutely described by Sir George King in the Annals 

 of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens Calcutta [vols. i. and ii. (1888)] that nothing practically 

 has been lei't for anyone coming after him to do. I have simply adopted, with very 

 slight alteration, Sir George King's descriptions, which are wonderfully clear and 

 acciu'ate. 



Pseudo-hermaphrodite ; male flowers with 1 stamen and a rudi- 

 mentary pistil in the same receptacle with the gall flowers ; 



female flowers in a separate receptacle (Palceomorphe) 1. F. gibhosa. 



Unisexual or asexual ; male flowers without any rudimentary 

 pistil ; male, gall, and female flowers in the same receptacle ; 

 stamen 1 (sometimes 2 stamens in F. callosa) ( Urostigma). 

 Leaves coriaceous or subcoriaceous ; petioles short or mode- 

 rately long, stout, never jointed to the blade. 

 Receptacles sessile, with 3 basal bracts. 

 Leaves more or less tomentose. 

 Leaves obtuse ; receptacles puberulous, globose, i-ed, 



I in. in diam 2. F. bengalensis. 



Leaves reaching 8 in. long, shortly acuminate ; 

 receptacles oblong or obovate, nearly glabrous 



when ripe, 1 in. long Z. F. mysorensis. 



Leaves reaching 5 in. long, bluntly apiculate ; 

 receptacles pisiform, less than ^ in. in diam., 



grey-tomentose 4. F. tomentosa. 



Leaves glabrous. 



Receptacles yellow or reddish, J in. in diam. ; basal 



bracts blunt ; petioles ^-^ in, long ... 5. F. retusa. 



Receptacles greenish-yellow, dotted, \ in. ii\ diam. ; 



basal bracts acute ; petioles |-1 in. long 6. F. Talbot i. 



2u2 



