172 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES FESCUE 



numbered only 40 exotic species ; in a catalogue published in 

 1864 the number had increased to 600 species, and in a work 

 entitled Ferns BintisJi and Foreign (1866), 1084 species of ferns 

 and their allies are recorded. Of that number only about 40 (true 

 ferns) are natives of Britain, of which it may be well said, no 

 class of plants of so small a number has been more written upon, 

 and announcements of new works are frequently to be seen. 



Fescue Grass, a name applied to the various species of 

 Festuca, an extensive genus of the Grass family, widely spread 

 over the earth. Nine species are natives of Britain — F. ipratense 

 and F. duriuscula being fodder grasses, and F. ovina, a short, 

 wiry grass on which sheep feed. 



Feverfew {Fyrethrum Parthenium), an erect bushy plant of 

 the Composite family (Compositas), a foot or more in height, 

 with much- divided leaves, and white -rayed flowers like the 

 camomile. It is wild in many parts of this country, often 

 seen growing on old walls. It is bitter and tonic, and from 

 early times has been valued by herbalists as a remedy for fever. 

 A double variety of it is grown as an ornamental garden plant. 



Fig (Ficus Carica), a tree of the Mulberry family (Moracese). 

 It is generally understood that the Fig is a native of Western 

 Asia, and was in early times introduced to the islands and 

 countries on both sides of the Mediterranean and Southern 

 Europe, where it has become indigenous, and occasionally 

 attains the height of a tree. It is cultivated in this country 

 generally in the form of a shrub, having long branches requir- 

 ing support. The so-called fruit of the Kg is not a true 

 fruit, but a fleshy receptacle of a conical form, attached by 

 the narrow end, the broad end or apex having a small open- 

 ing like a pore, the true flowers and seeds lining the interior, 

 which may be seen on opening a Fig. The fertilisation of the 

 Fig is peculiar, and is termed caprification ; it is believed to be 

 promoted by a winged insect, called Cynips, entering the young 

 fruit by the pore at the apex, and by the movements of the 

 msect the pollen is loosened from the anthers, and thus comes 

 in contact with the stigmas, as effected by insects in the flowers of 



