CXVI. URTICACE.T^:. G53 



16. Picus asperrima, lio.vh. FI. Iml. v. 3 (1832) p. 554. A shrub 



or small tree without aerial roots ; young parts scabrous ; bark white, 

 smooth. Leaves crowded about the extremities of the brauchlets, l|-5 

 by -|-2|- in., alternate, petiolate, oblong-lanceolate to ovate or obovate 

 or elliptic, entire (very rarely irregularly 3-lobed) *, blunt or acuminate, 

 serrate, toothed or crenate in the upper part, scabrid and hispid on both 

 surfaces, base usually rounded, 3-nerved ; lateral main nerves 3-5 pairs, 

 very prominent and hispid on the lower surface as are the reticulations ; 

 petioles §-l-|: in. long; stipules minute. Receptacles solitary, pedun- 

 culate, globose, j-|- in. in diam., slightly depressed at the apex, when 

 ripe yellow or purple with yellowish dots, scabrous-hispid, with rather 

 a prominent umbilicus ; basal bracts ; peduncles i-i in. long. Male 

 PLOWERs numerous in the upper part of the receplacles. Sepals 4-5, 

 linear-lanceolate, scabrid. Stamen 1. Gtall flowers: Sepals as in 

 the male. Ovary ovoid-lanceolate ; style thick, terminal ; stigma 

 dilated. Fertile flowers : Sepals 6-7, linear-lanceolate, smooth, 

 Acheues elongate, obovoid, minutely tuberculate. Style lateral, filiform ; 

 stigma obovoid. Fl. B. I. v. 5, p. 522 ; Grab. Cat. p. 191 ; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. p. 243 ; Wight, Icon. t. 633 ; Bedd. For. Man. in Flor. Sylvat, 

 p. ccxxiv : King, Sp. Fie. p. 80, t. 100 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 4, p. 94 ; 

 Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 330 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 

 (1899) p. 515 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 3, p. 343.— Fruit ripe 

 Mar.-Apr. Veen. Karvat. 



KoNKAN : Stocks \, Law], Graham, Talbot; Bombay, common, Balzell S( Gibson; 

 Marmagao, Cooke \ Deccan : Fitzgerald Ghat below Mahableshwar, Cooke\ S. M. 

 Country, Ramghat, Ritchie, 691 ! Kanaka : moist forests of N. Kanara, common, 

 Talbot. — DiSTRiB. India (Central India, W. Peninsula); Ceylon. 



The leaves are used as sandpaper to polish wood and ivory. 



17. Ficus hispida, Liim. f. Suppl. (1781) p. 442. A shrub or 

 small tree, all parts more or less hispid-pubescent. Leaves usually 

 opposite, petiolate, membranous, 4-12 by 2-6 in., ovate, oblong, or 

 subobovate, apiculate or shortly and abruptly acuminate, toothed or 

 entire, the lower surface hispid-pubescent, the upper hispid-scabrid, 

 base rounded, subcordate or subcuneate, 3-5-nerved ; lateral main 

 nerves 3-5 pairs with fine reticulations between ; petioles ^-1^ in. 

 long (in young shoots 3-3^ in. long), densely hispid ; stipules 2" to each 

 leaf, ovate-lanceolate, pubescent outside, about g in. long. Eeceptacles 

 \-l in. across, turbinate, obovoid or subpyriform, yellowish when ripe, 

 slightly umbonate, hispid and sometimes with bracts scattered along the 

 sides, on peduncles i-f in. long in pairs from the axils of the leaves, or 

 in fascicles from shortened tuberculate branches from the old wood, 

 or in pairs or fascicles on elongate stipular bracteate sometimes leafy 

 branches issuing from the larger branches and stem and often reaching 

 to or even penetrating the soil {F. dcemonum, Koen.) ; basal brauts 3. 

 Male flowers rather numerous, near the apex of the receptacle 

 containing the galls. Sepals 3, concave, hyaline. Stamen 1 ; anther 

 broad ; filament short. Gall flowers pedicellate. Perianth 0. Ovary 

 smooth, globose ; style short, subterminal ; stigma dilated. Fertile 

 flowers : Perianth (Beddorae says it is thin and transparent and 



* I have collected at Marmagao a specimen (no doubt a sport) with irregularly 

 3-lobed leaves. 



