238 OTJB COMMON PETJITS. 



the tree's abundant bearing, while others seek its etymo- 

 logy in the Hebrew name, Fag. Its Greek title Sykos, 

 derived by Dr. Sickler from Sicyon, is perpetuated in our 

 Sycamore, a near ally of the fig. The Ficus carica, our 

 common fig-tree, and the only one which will grow in the 

 open air in England, is sometimes a mere shrub, some- 

 times (though rarely) a tree 30 ft. high. Its large leaves 

 are deeply lobed, sometimes into three, sometimes into 

 five divisions, and are rough on the upper surface and 

 hairy beneath, the branches also being clothed with short 

 hairs. As to the blossom, in describing it the fruit is also' 

 described, for they are, in fact, one the fig we gather 

 being at once both flower and fruit ; and if we would even 

 see the former we must explore the latter. No bloom of 

 delicate petals ever appears to deck the branches of this 

 tree with floral beauty, yet is it not left flowerless, though 

 its blossoms flourish and fade all unseen by mortal eye, in- 

 urned within those fleshy green protuberances seen spring- 

 ing from the axils of the leaves, bearing the appearance 

 of an unripe fruit, and which, if cut open, disclose a whole 

 cluster of small unisexual flowers inserted into the inner 

 surface of this rind-like receptacle, as the florets of the 

 dandelion are into the part which forms the base of that 

 flower. A few male blossoms are at the upper part of the 

 cavity, while numerous female ones fill the remainder of 

 the space below, each ovary of the latter becoming event- 

 ually a seed surrounded by pulp, which, together with 

 the succulent receptacle, forms, when ripe, what may be 

 called an admirable imitation of a true berry, though 

 formed in so very different a manner. It may, perhaps, 

 give a clearer idea of so singular a growth to recur to the 

 familiar dandelion, and imagine the round white cushion 

 which supports that flower to spread and rise around 

 it, until the yellow star should be quite closed over, the 

 florets thus entombed still flourishing on in their dark 

 cell, and maturing seeds, surrounding them, however, 

 with a glutinous pulpy substance, filling up the configu- 

 ration, in the place of that light feathery down which 

 forms the airy mass of the dandelion's rounded head. 

 The shape of this fructal flower or floral fruit is very 



