F I C 



F I C 



by an umbel of yellow flowers, appearing in 

 July, and succeeded by oval com pressed seeds, 

 which ripen in autumn. It is a native of Spain, 

 See. 



In the third the leaves are targe, spreading 

 near the root, of a very lucid green, divided 

 and subdivided into many parts; leaflets much 

 broader than in the other sorts, and divided at 

 the end into three unequal segments. The 

 Stems are strong, eight or ten feet high, termi- 

 nated by large umbels of yellow flowers. It is 

 a native of Spain and Barbary. 



The fourth species rises to the height of seven 

 or eight feet. The leaves branch out on every 

 side pretty wide, and the leaflets are broader 

 than those of the other sorts, except the pre- 

 ceding ; but they are longer than those, and of 

 a darker green colour, ending in three points. 

 The umbels are large, and the flowers of a yel- 

 low colour. It is a native of Sicily. 



Culture. — These plants are all capable of 

 being increased by sowing the seeds in the 

 autumn or spring season, on beds of light earth, 

 in small drills, a foot apart, and three inches 

 distant in them. When the plants have attain- 

 ed some growth, they must be well weeded, and 

 properly thinned out. In these beds they may 

 remain for two years, when they should be 

 carefully taken up in the beginning of the au- 

 tumn, and planted out where they are to grow. 

 They succeed best in such loamy soils as are of 

 a mellow and rather moist quality. 



They are hardy, and proper for being planted 

 for the purpose of ornament in the large clumps, 

 borders, and other parts of pleasure-grounds, 

 where they will continue several years. 



FICUS, a genus containing a tree of the de- 

 ciduous fruit kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Polygamia 

 Trioecia, and ranks in the natural order of Sca- 

 I'riJce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is common 

 obovate, very large, fleshy, concave; closed 

 with very many semilanceolate, sharp, serrate, 

 inflex scales. The inner surface is covered witb 

 rloseules, the outer of which, or those which 

 are nearer to the edge of the calyx, are male ; 

 these are fewer in number; the rest, lower 

 down, are female, and more numerous : male, 

 each on its proper peduncle : the calyx is a pro- 

 per perianthium, three-parted, erect (bell-shaped, 

 trijid) : divisions lanceolate, erect, equal : there 

 is no corolla : the stamina consist of three fila- 

 ments, bristle-shaped, length of the calyx : an- 

 thers twin : the pistillum has rudiments cadu- 

 cous, intorted : female, each on its proper pe- 

 duncle : the calyx is a proper perianthium, five- 

 garted (bell-shaped, quinquefid) : divisions lan- 



ceolate-acuminate, straight, nearly equal : there is 

 no corolla : the pistillum is a germ (half inferi- 

 or), oval, the size of the proper perianthium: 

 style subulate (bristle-shaped,) inflex, coming 

 out from the germ at the side of the tip: stigmas^ 

 two, acuminate, reflex ; one shorter than the, . 

 other: there is no pericarpium : the calyx ob- 

 lique, containing in its bosom a seed, larger : 

 the seed single, roundish, and compressed. 



The species are: 1. F. carica, Common Fig- 

 tree ; 2. F. sycomorus, Egyptian Fig-tree, or Sy- 

 comore; 3. F. reHgiam, Poplar-leaved Fig-tree; 

 4. F. Bengalensis, Bengal Fig-tree ; 5. F. In- 

 dica, Indian Fig-tree. 



The first is a tree which seldom exceeds two. 

 yards in height : the trunk is about the thick- 

 ness of the human arm ; the wood porous and 

 spongy : the bark ash-coloured, full of chinks, 

 and rugged : the branches smooth, with oblong 

 white dots, erect or ascending, fluxuose, and 

 bent back: the stipules in pairs, sessile, ovate, 

 acute, ferruginous, caducous : the leaves annual 

 (in Europe, but within the tropics perennial), 

 cordate, ovate, three- or five-lobed, with round- 

 ed sinuses, serrate-toothed, paler underneath^ 

 rugged; on both sides, spreading, the size of the 

 hand, or a span in length : the petioles are round, 

 grooved, about an inch in length : fruits axillary, 

 solitary, the size of a pear, on very short round 

 peduncles : the flowers produced within the 

 fruit. It is a native of Asia. 



There are several varieties, the chief of which 

 are the following : 



The Brown IschiaFig, which has a large fruit, 

 short, globular, with a pretty large eye, pinch- 

 ed in near the foot-stalk, of a brown or ches- 

 nut colour on the outside, and purple with- 

 in : the grains large, and the pulp sweet and 1 

 high-flavoured ; it often bursts open as it ripens, 

 in the end of July, or the beginning of August. 

 This fruit ripens well on standards in warm 

 soils. 



The Black Genoa Fig, which has a long fruit, 

 that swells pretty large at the top, where it is ob- 

 tuse, the lower part very slender towards the stalk;- 

 the skin of adark purple colour,almost black, and 

 has a purple farina over it like that on some 

 plums ; tbe inside is of a bright red, and 

 the flesh very high flavoured. It ripens early in 

 August. 



The Small While Early Fig, which has a 

 roundish fruit a little flatted at "the crown, with 

 a very short foot-stalk ; the skin thin, and when 

 fully ripe of a pale yellowish white colour; the 

 inside white, and the flesh sweet, but not high- 

 flavoured. It ripens in August. 



The Large White Genoa Fig, which has a 

 large globular fruit, a little lengthened towards the 



