STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 205 



Tropins ramon Schlecht. Linnaea 6: 357. 1831. 



Taiuaulipas to Sinaloa, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Tabasco. Central America, 

 Colombia, and the West Indies. 



Tree, 15 meters high or less, with brown bark, the trunk usually 35 to 40 cm. 

 in diameter; leaves short-petiolate, oblong to oval, 8 to 15 cm. long, short- 

 acuminate, coriaceous, often very rough, entire or inconspicuusly dentate. 

 "Ramon" (Veracruz, Tabasco, Cuba, Santo Domingo; a cori'uption of this 

 name, " ranioou," used also in Jamaica); " confitura " (Oaxaca, Reko) ; 

 " huanchal " (Oaxaca); " leclie Maria" (Oaxaca); " ramoncillo " (Tabasco); 

 "ramon de Castilla " (Veracruz, Villada) ; " cafecillo " (Nicaragua); "ramon 

 de caballos " (Cuba). 



The tree is much used in Mexico, as well as elsewhere, as fodder for domestic 

 animals, the cut branches being often transported to some distance for the 

 purpose. The fruit is said to be edible, although the flesh is certainly very 

 scant. The bark contains tannin and has been used in medicine as an 

 astringent. 



It may be that more than one species is included in the material referred 

 here. The leaves are somewhat variable in shape and texture. Tlie pistillate 

 inflorescence is usually simply spicate, but it is sometimes branched. T. gla- 

 brata Liebm.\ from the description, does not seem to diifer essentially. 



2. Trophis mexicana (Liebm.) Bureau in DC. Prodr. 17: 253. 1873. 



Sorocea mexicana Liebm. Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Skrivt. V. 2: 335. 1851. 



Trophis chiapensis T. S. Brandeg. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 6: 178. 1915. 



Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas; type from Tlapacoyan, Veracruz. 



Medium-sized tree ; leaves narrowly elliptic-oblong, with a long, narrow, often 

 curved tip, conspicuously serrate, smooth, bright green. 



4. FICUS L. Sp. PL 10. 59. 1753. 



Reference : Standley, The Mexican and Central American species of Ficus, 

 Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 20: 1-35. 1917; Urbina, Los Amates de Hernandez, 

 Naturaleza 7:93-114. 1900; M. Urbina, Los Amates de Hernandez 6 higueras 

 Mexicanas, Naturaleza III. 1: 32-53. 1912. 



Large or small trees; leaves entire (in the native Mexican species) ; flowers 

 minute, borne on the inner surface of a more or less globose receptacle, this 

 succulent in age, with a very small opening at the apex, this closed by small 

 scales, the receptacle subtended at the base by a lobed involucre. 



Many if not most of the Mexican figs are of very peculiar growth. They 

 are hemiparasites ; that is, they often begin their growth upon other plants, 

 usually palms, germinating and developing a stem from which aerial roots 

 descend to the ground and take root.^ In this way the plants in their young 

 stages are often vinelike. With age, the aerial roots increase in size and form 

 a trunk which gradually envelops completely the host plant. The stems at 

 first are flat, broad, and thin, and as they increase in size several will unite, 

 assuming irregular and fantastic forms. Ultimately the host plant dies but 

 often it persists for a long time, and it is not unusual to see the fronds of a 

 palm rising from the crown of a large fig tree. Figs of this habit of growth 

 are known generally as " matapalo." Sometimes the plants begin their growth 

 upon cliffs, developing their thin trunks against the rocks. 



'Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Skrivt. V. 2: 314. 1851. 



' See Trelease, Illustrations of a " strangling " fig tree. Rept. Mo. Bot. Gard. 

 16: 161-165. pi. 39-45. 1905. 



