498 TJKTICACE.E. 



Haschisch of the Arabs is composed of the tops and tender parts of the 

 plant dried. The strobili of the female plants of Humulus Lupulus 

 constitute hops, the bitterness of which resides in the resinous glandu- 

 lar scales surrounding the fruit, and to which the name of Lupulinic 

 glands, or Lupulin, has been applied. The latter name is also given 

 to the bitter principle of the hops. Hops are employed as a tonic and 

 narcotic, in the form of extract, infusion, and tincture. Their tonic 

 properties depend on then: bitterness. A pillow stuffed with hops is 

 a popular means of procuring sleep. The twigs of hops have been used 

 to adulterate Sarsaparilla. Several species of Elm are cultivated for 

 timber. Ulmus campestris, English or small-leaved Elm, rarely pro- 

 duces fruit in this country. It often attains a height of 70 to 90 

 feet, with a diameter of 4 to 5 feet. Its wood is compact and dur- 

 able under water, and it has been used for sleepers on railways, 

 and for wooden pavements. Its inner bark is bitter, mucilaginous, 

 and astringent. Ulmus montana, the Mountain, Wych, or Scotch Elm, 

 produces fruit freely in this country, but its wood is inferior to that of 

 the English Elm. Celtis, the Nettle-tree, or Sugar-berry, has a sweet 

 drupaceous fruit. 



1021. The common Fig is the fruit of Ficus Carica. It consists of 

 a succulent hollow receptacle, enclosing numerous single-seeded car- 

 pels (fig. 246), and is called a syconus (If 558). The fruit is demul- 

 cent and laxative, and is used for cataplasms. Many other species of 

 Ficus yield edible fruits. The plants belonging to the Fig tribe are 

 generally remarkable for the adventitious roots which they send out 

 from the stems. One of the most celebrated in this respect is Ficus 

 indica, the Banyan (^[ 121, 635). Many of the species can live sus- 

 pended in the air for a long time. A specimen of Ficus australis has 

 grown in this way hi the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh for upwards 

 of twenty years (^[ 217). Ficus (Urostigina) religiosa is the Pippul- 

 tree, or Sacred Fig of India. F. elastica is an Indian tree which sup- 

 plies a large quantity of caoutchouc ; so also do Ficus Radula, elliptica, 

 and prinoides. Peculiar clusters of raphides are found in the cellular 

 tissue of some of them (fig. 39). The milky juice is not in all instances 

 bland and innocuous ; it occasionally has acrid qualities. Ficus Syco- 

 inorus (Sycomorus antiquorum), is probably the Sycamore of the Bible, 

 the crapw of the Old Testament, and the avx.op,oea, of the New. The 

 wood of the tree is said to be very durable. Morus nigra supplies 

 the common black Mulberry, which is an anthocarpous fruit, composed 

 of numerous succulent flowers, forming a sorosis (fig. 475). The Mul- 

 berry is the avxiiftivos, or Sycamine-tree of the New Testament. Some 

 have considered it as the cropo of the Old Testament. The white 

 Mulberry, a less-esteemed fruit, is the produce of Morus alba. Both 

 of these mulberries are subacid. Their leaves are the favourite food 

 of silk- worms. The root of the white Mulberry is anthelmintic. The 



