712 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



fertile soils. Height 30 ft. to 60 ft. Introduced 

 in 1818. Flowers yellowish green ; June. Fruit 

 resembling a large Seville orange ; ripe in October. 

 Neither flowers nor fruit have yet been produced 

 in England. 



The leaves are ovate acuminate, of a bright 

 shining green, broad, with a cuspidate point, 3 or 

 3| inches long, and about 2 in. broad. The petiole 

 is often 1 in. long. The spines are simple, rather 

 strong, about 1 in. in length, and produced in the 

 axils of the leaves. The fruit, when ripe, is of a 

 golden colour, and on the tree has a splendid appear- 

 ance ; but, though eatable, it does not appear to be 

 any where used for human food. The wood is of a 

 bright yellow, very fine-grained, elastic, and on that 

 account used by the southern tribes of the American 

 Indians for bows. 



1386. M. aurantiaca. 



GENUS IV. 



Tourn. THE FIG TREE. Lin. Syst. Polygamia Dioe'cia. 



Identification. Tourn. ; T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. PI. Fl. Germ., fasc. 3. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. 



p. 1131. 



Synonymes. Figuier, Fr. ; Feigenbaum, Ger. ; Fico, Ital. 

 Derivation. Some derive Flcus from foecundus, on account of its abundant bearing ; and others 



from sukos (Greek), or fag (Hebrew), the names for the fig tree in those languages. The fig tree 



has nearly the same name in all the European languages. 



Gen. Char. Flowers monoecious, inserted upon the interior surface of a hol- 

 low globular or pear-shaped fleshy receptacle, in whose tip is an orifice 

 closed with small scales ; those in the upper part male, the rest female. 

 Male flowers. Calyx 3-parted. Stamens 3. Female flowers. Calyx 5-cleft. 

 Stigmas 2. Fruit a utricle. (G. Don.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous; lobed. Stipules large, con- 

 volute. Flowers within the fruit. Tree, deciduous ; native of the South 

 of Europe and Asia ; sap milky; cuttings in good soil. 



1 1. F. CA'RICA L. The common Fig Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1513. ; Willd. Sp., 4. p. 1131. ; N. Du Ham., 4. p. 198. 

 Synonymes. F. communis Bauh. Pin. 457. ; F. humilis and F. sylvestris Tourn. Inst. 663. ; Fi- 

 guier commun, Fr. ; gemeine Feigenbaum, Ger. 



Engravings. N. Du Ham., t. 53. ; the plate of this tree in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vii. ; and our 

 fil- 1387. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves palmate and subtrilobate ; rough above, pubescent 

 beneath. ( Willd.) A low deciduous tree. Asia, on the sea coast. Height 

 15 ft. to 30 ft. Cultivated in Britain from time immemorial.; and ripening 

 its fruit against walls, in the climate of London, in the month of September. 



Varieties. Botanically, the common fig may be considered as existing in three 

 different states: 1. Wild, in which the leaves are comparatively small, 

 and not much cut ; and the fruit small, and sometimes blue and sometimes 

 white. 2. Cultivated, with very large leaves, very deeply cut, such as the 

 Blue Ischia and the Brunswick fig, and other sorts ; the fruit of some of 

 which is white, and of others dark. 3. Cultivated, with very large leaves, 

 not much cut, as the White Marseilles fig, and others with fruit of different 

 colours. Those who are disposed to go farther may form three subvarieties 

 under each of these heads, according as the fruit is blue or black, red or 

 purple, yellow, white, or green. The garden varieties are very numerous ; 



