730 



URTICACE^. (^'ETTLE FAMILY.) 



umbilicate at apex, and has a narrow, open mouth, furnished with 

 scales. Staminate flowers : sepals 3-5 ; stamens 3-6, filaments straight 

 in the bud. Pistillate flowers : perigonium 5-fid; ovary 1-celled, style 

 lateral, stigmas 3 or 1 ; fruit consisting of the fleshy receptacle, and 

 minute, crustaceous, 1-seeded utricles; testa of seed membranous: 

 embryo incurved — Trees with milky juice and alternate leaves, appear- 

 ing with fruit. 



F. Carica, L. 5 Fig. Tin. 3 to 5. Leaves deciduous, petioled, 

 scabrous at upper surface, pubescent or velvety at lower, ovate, cordate at 

 base, o-5-Iobed, repand, rarely undivided, .1 to . 3 long and broad. Figs 

 solitary, in or above axils, on the last yeafs hi'cmches, short-peduncled, 

 pyriform to globular, tapering at base to a stalk as long as fig, or desti- 

 tute of stalk — Summer — Common in the wild state, and cultivated 

 in many selected varieties for its usually sweet, sometimes somewhat 

 acid fruit. Of the wild varieties there grow in Syria and Palestine : — 



Var. gfcnuiiia, Boiss. Leaves 3-5-lobecl, or rarely undivided. 



Var. ripariuiii, Haussk. Leaves .'j-7-lobed, lobes oblong-spathu- 

 late. 



Var. rupestris, Haussk, Leaves undivided, ovate to oblong, 

 obtuse, leathery. Fruit pyriform, more or less puberulent. 



Var. ^lobosa, Boiss. Leaves trilobed or undivided. Fruit 

 globular, puberulent, destitute of stalk. 



2. F. psciidosycomorus, Decaisn 5 Alu-Uamnwd. Zamyuh. 

 Hanimdt. Dciblut. 3; young branches pruniose. Leaves deciduous, 

 petioled, ovate to ovate-orbicular, cordate at base, .05 to .15 long, ob- 

 tuse, crenate-dentate or lohuled, some undivided, others repand to tri- 

 lobed, green and scabrous at upper surface, pale and tomentellous at 

 length glabrescent-scabrous at lower. Figs solitary on last year's 

 branches, out of axils, short-peduncled or sessile, turbinate, puberu- 

 lent — April — El-Ghor ; Dead Sea, and southward to Sinai and Egypt, 



a. F. ^ycaiuorii§, L. q Fig. 333. 



Sycamore. Jummeiz. 8 to 15 high, 

 and often 20 broad. Leaves persis- 

 tent, petioled, ovate-subcordate, .1 

 to .3 long, obtuse, entire, glabrous 

 except the sparingly hirtulous nerves 

 of the lower surface. Figs on tortu- 

 ous, leafless ticigs on the triuiTc or older 

 branches, turbinate, .03 long, short- 

 stipitate, tomentellous — Summer — 

 Common, especially in and about 

 towns. 



F. religiosa, L., the Banyan, F. 

 elastica, Nois, the India Rubber Tree, 

 and F. Benghalensis, L, are some- 

 what cultivated about towns. 



5. H1JMIJL.US, L. Hop. 

 Flowers dioecious. Staminate -dowers racemed; sepals 5; stamens 5, 

 inserted at base of sepals, erect, with a very short filament ; anthers ob- 



Branch with fruiting twigs. 



