210 



ARUM ASARABACCA. 



The Ficus carica, a native of Asia, but cultivated 

 in the south of Europe, furnishes the common escu- 

 lent fig. Figs are brought to this country from the 

 Levant. They arc demulcent and laxative, and enter 

 into the composition of some pharmaceutical prepa- 

 rations. When roasted or boiled, they are used as 

 cataplasms, and are frequently applied to the gums 

 and throat to relieve inflammatory swellings. The 

 milky juice of the Ficus elastica and australis, when 

 evaporated, constitutes the common Indian-rubber 

 or caoutchouc. Both these species are very tenacious 

 of life, and can exist for months or years suspended 

 in the air without any attachment to the soil. The 

 Ficus sycamorus is the sycamore tree mentioned in 

 the Scriptures. It yields an edible fruit. Ficus re- 

 ligiosa, the famous banyan tree, or sacred fig of the 

 Hindoos, is one of the many astonishing features of 

 Indian vegetation. Its branches bend towards the 

 ground, take root, and thus form separate trees, which 

 successively cover a vast space of ground, and furnish a 

 most agreeable and extensive shade in warm climates. 



- its wondrous branch, 



Bent down to earth, new stems can launch, 

 Which upward spring to bend again, 

 And form a forest o'er the plain. 



The Ficus Indian resembles the last mentioned 

 species in its mode of growth. A tree of this species 

 is mentioned by Marsdeii as growing in Bengal, which 

 had fifty or sixty stems, with a total diameter of 370 

 feet, and which afforded at noon a shadow, the cir- 

 cumference of which was 1 1 16 feet. Gum lac is pro- 

 cured from this species. The bark of the Ficus race- 

 mosa, or red-wooded fig, is used as an astringent. 

 The Ficus toxicaria, as its name implies, possesses 

 poisonous properties. The Dorstenias are herba- 

 ceous Brazilian plants belonging to this order. The 

 Dorstenia contrayerva has an astringent, bitterish, 

 aromatic root, which is used as a stimulant diaphoretic. 

 The Dorstenia Braziliensis is employed as an emetic, 

 and its juice is put into poisoned wounds to avert bad 

 consequences. 



The morus, or mulberry, is also referred to this 

 order. The black mulberry, originally a native of 

 Persia, produces dark purple fruit, which has acid 

 and purgative properties. It is used to allay thirst, 

 and to act as a refrigerant. The white mulberry is 

 so named from the colour of its fruit. A peculiar 

 acid, denominated moroxylic, is obtained from it. 

 The leaves of both the white and black mulberry are 

 used to feed silk-worms. The Morus tinctoria yields 

 the yellow die called fustic. The bark of the rnorus, 

 or JSroussonnetia papyri/era, the paper mulberry, a 

 native of China and the Eastern Archipelago, fur- 

 nishes a kind of paper, as well as a particular sort of 

 cloth. The Antiaris toxicaria, or toxicodendron of 

 Leschenault, yields the ipo, or upas-antiar, one of 

 the famous Javanese poisons. It possesses properties 

 similar to those of the upas-tient^, already described 

 under the article APOCYNE^E. 



The American caoutchouc is obtained from the 

 Cecupia pcltata, a species of cannon-wood tree. 



From the palo da vacca, the cow-tree of the Ca- 

 raccas (a species of the genus Brosimum], a nutri- 

 tious milky juice is obtained, which is highly prized 

 by the inhabitants of South America. 



ARUM (Linnaeus). An extensive family of her- 

 baceous perennial herbs, found in every quarter of 

 the world. Linnaean class and order Monoecia Poly- 



andria; natural order Aroidece. Spatha of one leaf 

 hollow. Spadix, apex naked, like a lengthened club, 

 the base serving for a germen ; anthers attached to 

 the middle ; glands of the top thready ; anthers 

 superior ; filaments none ; anthers seated transversely, 

 two-valved ; style none ; berry one, or many-seeded. 

 Of this genus there are thirty -nine species, which are 

 botanically divided into three sections, founded on the 

 form of the leaves, viz., composite, simple, and arrow- 

 shaped. Many of them have thick tuberous roots. One, 

 the A. macrorhizon, is extensively cultivated in China, 

 and answers the same purpose there as the potato in 

 this country. The A. colocasia is said to be cultivated 

 in Egypt. The A. maculatum is the only British 

 species, called provincially wake-robin, and is a 

 common plant. It presents, however, the general 

 character of the family. 



ARVICOLA (the campagnol or meadow-mouse 

 of Pennant). A genus of Rodentia, belonging to the 

 very numerous natural family of the rats and mice. 

 The principal difference of appearance between this 

 and some of the other field mice, is that the tail is 

 shorter, and covered with hair. The meadow cam- 

 pagnol (Arvicola agrestis) is a well-known and by no 

 means rare British species. It is reddish brown'on the 

 upper part and ash-coloured below, with the tail only 

 about one-third the length of the body. It inhabits 

 meadows rather than corn fields, though it is some- 

 times accused of committing depredations on the 

 latter, and it forms its nest of dried grass. The accu- 

 sations about plundering the crops appear to be in a 

 great measure disproved, or at all events rendered 

 very doubtful, by the kind of places in which the 

 animal is most generally met with. These are low- 

 lying pastures covered with tall herbage, and, as it 

 appears, the more moist the better they are liked. 

 From this circumstance one would be led to conclude 

 that its food is not entirely vegetable, but that it 

 seeks insects and other small animals among the roots 

 of the grass. Its history appears to be in some way 

 confounded (at least in the books) with that of other 

 field mice, which take up their abodes in drier situa- 

 tions, and more among the fields under crop. 



Another species of this genus, new to British 

 natural history, has been discovered by Mr. Yarrell, 

 and was by that gentleman brought before the Com- 

 mittee of Correspondence and Science, of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society of London, on the 22nd of May, 1832. 

 This new species the discoverer has named Arvicola 

 riparia, the bank campagnol, from the places which 

 it chiefly inhabits, and in which it nestles. These 

 are ditch banks and hedge bottoms, and it is said that 

 the nest, unlike that of the other species, is formed 

 of wool. The body of this species is smaller than 

 that of the other, and the ears do not stand out so 

 prominently. The tail is also longer, consists of four 

 more vertebrae, and has the hair near the tip some- 

 what elongated. It is altogther a smaller animal than 

 the meadow campagnol, but it has the appearance 

 of greater energy and strength ; and from some dif- 

 ferences in the internal organisation it probably feeds 

 still more upon animal matter. For an account of the 

 foreign species see CAMPAGNOL. 



ASARABACCA. The asarum of botanists, a 

 genus of five species of hardy herbaceous perennials, 

 natives of Britain and North America. Linnaean 

 class and order Dodecandria Monogynia, natural 

 order Asarlnete, Generic character : fruit inferior ; 

 calyx corolla-like, joined to the germen, bladder or 



