96 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



MORACEiE. 



of Tampa Bay on the west coast ^ to the southern keys^ attaining its largest size in the neighborhood of 

 Bay Biscayne ; ^ it also inhabits the Bahama Islands.^ 



The wood of Ficiis mirea is exceedingly light, soft^ very weak, coarse-grained, and very perishable 



in contact with the ground ; it is 



light 



b 



rown 



with thick lighter colored sapwood, and contains 



numerous thin hardly distinguishable medullary rays. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood 

 is 0.2616, a cubic foot weighing 16.30 pounds. 



The earliest account of Ficiis aiirea appears in Bernard Romans's Natural History of Florida^^ 

 published in 1775. It is sometimes planted as a shade-tree on Key West/ and has lately been intro- 

 duced into the gardens of the United States and Europe. 



^ P. W. Reasoner, Garden and Forest , i, 214. 



branches of tlie original trunk, and its dense wide crown of foliage 



'^ What is probably the largest specimen of Fieus aurea in the (Garden and Forest^ i. 128, f.). 



United States grows on a wooded hummock, locally known as 

 " The Hunting-ground," about ten miles west of the mouth of the 

 Miami River and close to the shores of Bay Biscayne. This re- 



8 Brace, No. 356, Herb. Kew. 



^ Ficus Americana, citri folio, fructu parvo purpureo, 21. 



^ The noble tree in front of the United States barracks on Key 



markable tree covers about a quarter of an acre of ground with its West, which is 

 numerous distinct stems formed from roots developed from the of this species. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 



Plate CCCXXIV. Ficus aurea. 



1. A flowering and fruiting branch, natural size. 



2. A pair of young receptacles covered by their posterior cucullate bract, enlarged 



3. A receptacle, side view, enlarged. 



4. A receptacle, front view, enlarged. 



5. Vertical section of a receptacle, enlarged. 



6. Section of a recei)tacle, showing the flowers, enlarged. 



7. A staminate flower, enlarged. 



8. A stamen, rear view, enlarged. 



9. A pistillate flower, enlarged. 



10. A fruit, enlarged. 



11. Vertical section of a fruit, enlarged. 



12. A seed, enlarged. 



13. An embryo, much magnified. 



14. Portion of branch showing: leaf and receptacle scars, natural size. 



