 ‘Firevs.] — URTICACER. 147 
1. F. parasitica, Ken. ex Willd. in Mém. Acad. Berol. 1798, 102 ; 
Brandis For. Fl, 420. F. gibbosa, Blume, var. parasitica, King 
Sp. Ficus 6, t. 2, fig. B; F. B. I. V., 497; Watt E. D. ; Kanjilal 
For. Fl. (ed. 2) 368 ; Prain Beng. Pl. 979 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. ii, 644 ; 
Brandis Ind. Trees 599. F. Ampelos, Ken. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii, 
553. F. sclerophylla, Roxb. 1. c. 546.—Vern. Chhanchri and dadu- 
banda (Dehra Dun). 
Usually an epiphytic climber; branchlets scaberulous; bark thin, 
smooth, greenish-yellow. Leaves alternate, thinly coriaceous, 3-6 
in. long, more or less rhomboid, obtuse acute or acuminate, minutely 
hispid above, scabrid and minutely hispid beneath ; base acute, often 
unequal-sided, 3-nerved; main lateral nerves 3-7 pairs, prominent 
beneath and joining within the margin; petioles 1-4 in.; stipules 
about as long as the petioles, ovate-lanceolate, convolute.' Recep- 
tacles stalked, solitary or in pairs or fascicled, axillary and from below 
the leaves, }-} in. across, depressed- globose or subpyriform, without 
basal bracts, scabrid and mammillate, yellow when ripe; peduncle 
as long as the receptacle, bracteate at the base. MaLr FLOWERS near 
the mouth of the receptacles contaiaing gall flowers. Sepals 4-6, 
linear, fleshy, hairy. Stamen |, filament short, united at the base to 
an abortive pistil. Gann rLowEerRs: Perianth as in the male. Ovary 
globose, smooth ; style short, lateral. FERTILE FLOWERS in separate 
receptacles. Sepals 4, hyaline. Style elongate, lateral. Achene 
obliquely ovcid, slightly papillose. 
Dehra Dun and eastwards along the Sub-Himalayan forest tracts ; 
also in Bundelkhand ; often found as an epiphyte on other species of 
Ficus, such as pipal and banyan. Receptacles ripen Jan.-March. 
Distris. Throughout India and in Ceylon extending to Burma and 
the Andaman Islands. The rough leaves are used for p»lishing ivory 
and wood, and the root-bark is used in native medicine ; the leaves 
are given as fodder to cattle. 
2. F. bengalensis, Linn. Hort. Cliff. 471 No. 4: Brandis For. 
Fl. 412 ; Ind. Trees 600 ; King Sp. Fic. 18, t. 13 ; F. B. I. V., 499 ; 
Watt E. D. ; Comm. Prod. Ind. 536 ; Collett Fl. Siml. 459 ; Kanjilal 
For. Fl. (ed. 2), 369 ; Gamble Man. 638 ; Prain Beng. Pl. 979 ; Cooke 
Fl. Bomb. ii, 645. F. indica, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. wii, 539 ; Royle 
Ill. 339.—Vern Bor. bar, bargat—The Banyan tree. 
A large nearly evergreen tree sometimes up to 100 ft. in height ; branches 
horizontally spreading and throwing down ot intervals a succession 
of aerial roots which form supports for the indefinite elongation of 
