538 AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PLANTS. 
353. Ficus platypoda, A. Cunn., (Syn. Urostigma platypodum, 
Mig.) ; N.O., Urticez, B.FI., vi., 169. 
A small robust tree. Wood soft, of a light yellow colour, 
with strong fibre. 
Western and South Australia, Queensland and Northern 
Australia. 
354. Ficus pleurocarpa, 7:v.i7., N.O., Urticeze, Muell. Cens., 
Pp. 22. 
“ Ribbed Fig.” 
Wood light, soft, and elastic, with very open pores. (Cat. 
Queensland Timbers, Col. and Ind. Exh., 1886.) 
Johnstone River (Queensland). 
355. Ficus rubiginosa, Desf., (Syn. F. australis, Willd.; Uros- 
iigma rubiginosum, Gaspar.); N.O., Urticez, B.FIL., vi., 168. 
“Port Jackson Fig.” ‘‘ Narrow-leaved Fig.” ‘ Rusty Fig,” or ‘ Native 
Banyan.” ‘‘ Dthaaman” of the aboriginals. 
This timber is soft, brittle, and spongy; it is, however, some- 
times used for packing-cases. It is light in colour as well as in 
weight, and although sometimes it shows a pretty grain, it would 
be waste of labour to spend much time on it. A slab of this wood 
in the Technological Museum, which has been seasoned over 
twenty-five years (having been exhibited at the London International 
Exhibition of 1862), has a weight which corresponds to 28lb. 80z. 
per cubic foot. Diameter, 4 to s5ft.; height, 60 to 8oft. 
New South Wales and Queensland. 
356. Ficus scabra, G. Fors¢., (Syn. F. aspera, G. Forst.); N.O., 
Urticeze, Muell. Cens., p. 22. &. aspera in B.FI., vi., 174. 
‘Purple Fig.” ‘White Fig.” “ Rough-leaved Fig.” Called ‘‘ Flooded 
Fig” on the Clarence River, N.S.W. 
Both Bentham and Mueller look upon / aspera and F. scabra 
merely as varieties of the same species; they only differ in opinion 
as to which name shall stand. ‘Seemann (Flora Vitiensis) gives 
figures of F. aspera and F. scabra which are clearly distinct, 
though his illustrations may represent the most extreme forms, 
