Naturalisation in Extra-Tropical Countries. 223 



the following results : Albumen 1*86, gluten 8'16, starch 1'45, gum 

 2-14, sugar 5'05 per cent. [F. v. Mueller and L. Rummel]. F. 

 duriuscula mainly sustains millions of sheep in the upper regions of 

 New Zealand [D. Petrie]. 



Festuca purpurea, F. v. Mueller. ( Uralepis purpurea, Nuttall ; Tricuspis 

 purpurea, A. Gray.) 



South-Eastern coast of North- America. A tufty sand-grass, but 

 annual. 



Festuca rubra, Linne*. (F. violacea, Seringe.) 



Mountains of Middle and Southern Europe and Western Asia. 

 A productive fodder-grass, more adapted for hay than for grazing. 

 F. pulchella (Schrader) is also valued as a bulky and nutritious grass 

 for alpine meadows [Stebler and Schroeter]. 



Festuca silvatica, Villars. 



Middle and Southern Europe. A notable forest-grass. F. dry- 

 meia (Mertens and Koch), a grass with long creeping roots, is closely 

 allied. Both deserve test-culture. Space does not admit of entering 

 here into further details of the respective values of many species of 

 Festuca, which might advantageously be introduced from various 

 parts of the globe for rural purposes. 



Ficus Benghalensis, Linne. (F. Indica, Linne", partly.) 



The Banyan-tree of India, famed for its enormous expansion and 

 air-roots. Height to 100 feet. Although not strictly an utilitarian 

 tree, it is admitted here as one of the most shady trees, adapted for 

 warm and moist regions. At the age of 100 years one individual 

 tree will shade and occupy about one and a half acres, and rest on 

 150 stems or more, the mainstems often with a circumference of 50 

 feet, the secondary stems with a diameter of several feet. At Mel- 

 bourne the tree suffers somewhat from the night-frosts. 



Ficus Carica, Linne".* 



The ordinary Fig-tree. Alph. de Candolle speaks of it as spon- 

 taneous from Syria to the Canary-Islands ; Count Solms-Laubach 

 confines the nativity of the Fig-tree to the countries on the Persian 

 Gulf. A particular Fig-tree at Finisterre is considered several 

 hundred years old, and has attained a ramification the circumference 

 of which reaches fully 500 feet ; it continues in full bearing [F. 

 Abel]. It is one of the first of trees with deciduous leaves to burst 

 into vernal foliage. In warm temperate latitudes and climes a prolific 

 tree. The most useful and at the same time the most hardy of half a 

 thousand recorded species of Ficus. The extreme facility with which 

 it can be propagated from cuttings, the resistance to heat, the compara- 

 tively early yield and easy culture recommend the Fig-tree, where it is 



