Plate 2-j78. 



PICUS LAURIFOLIA, Lam, 



Urticaok.e. Tribe Artocarpe/e. 



Ficus (Urostigma) laurifolia, Lam, ; species F. leucostictcr, Miq., 

 guianensi maxime affinis. 



Arbor 30-pedalis, trunco elevato sine radicibus aereis, ramis erectis 

 apice dense foliatis. Folia lanceolata, 10 poll, longa, 3 poll, lata, 

 glaberrima, supra nitida obscure viridia, subtus multo pallidiora, basi 

 rotundata, interdum subacuta, apice breviter acuminata, acumine 

 obtuso, nervo medio valido subtus sa?pe roseo supra lutescente, nervis 

 secundariis utrinque 10 strictis ; stipulse 2, albidae, longicuspidata? ; 

 petiolus subteres, canaliculatus, lamina duplo triplove brevior. Recep- 

 taenia in axillis foliorum bina, juventute bractea mitrseformi acuta 

 obtecta, oblique globosa, 1-3 poll, diam., tomento brevissimo subve- 

 lutina, la3te viridia, maculis albis planis picta. Flores mascidini cum 

 floribus femininis undique intermixti, bracteolis 3 lineari-cuspidatis 

 suffulti ; perigoniil acinic basi connate, oblongo-lineares, bracteolis vix 

 sequilongse. Stamen 1, filamento antheram albidam ?equante, con- 

 nective incrassato apiculato. Flores feminini oranes fertiles, bracteolis 

 3 lineari-spathulatis cuspidatis suffulti ; perigonii lacinise basi connate, 

 longe cuspidate. Ovarium stipitatum, ohlongo-obovatum ; stylus 

 ovarium superans, stigmate valido perigonium superante saturate 

 purpureo bicruri, ramis subaequalibus recurvis. 



Described from specimens cultivated in the garden of Signer If. 

 Ragusa at Palermo, and in the gardens of Cairo and Alexandria. 



It was probably introduced into Egypt from Palermo some thirty 

 years ago. Whether South America is its native place or not is un- 

 certain. Lamarck (JEncyc. ii. p. 495) described it first in 1792, from a 

 plant grown in the Jarclin dea Plantes at Paris, and specimens from 

 the Herbarium of Jussieu are still preserved in the Museum of that 

 institution. In 1806 Willdenow (Sp. Plant, iv. p. 1 137) again described 

 the plant from a specimen cultivated in the Berlin Botanic Garden, 

 naming it F. martinicensis ; and Kunth (hid. Sew. Hort. BeroL p. 16) 

 in 1846 redeseribed it and renamed it F. rhododendrifolia from 

 pecimens in the same garden. In Steudels Nomenclafor (ed. 2, i. 

 p. 637) the name F. neriifolia, Reinw., is published for this species, as 

 a naked name. In 1853 Miquel (in Martius's FL Brasil. iv. pt. 1, 

 p. 96) named the plant Urostigma Kunthii^ recognising the 



SERIES IV. VOL. VI. PART IV. Q 



