3oi. Ficus AUREA GOLDEN FIG. 3 



trunk, while the rampant stem above closely entwines the trunk and 

 branches. Constantly then With unrelenting grip it strangles the life 

 out of the victim tree, which then rapidly decays and disintegrates, 

 through the agency of the many fungi and insects of the tropics, and 

 the fig-tree, with braided, twisted trunk, stands alone in the place of 

 the tree it has killed. Such trunks may be 3 or 4 ft. (i m.) or more 

 in diameter and the top may be 50 or 75 ft. (25 m.) above ground in 

 high forest growth. When in the open, however, the trees develop 

 wide-spreading and often irregular tops, and from its branches extend 

 down aerial roots which finally become secondary trunks and the top 

 spreads wider until it may cover several square rods in extent. The 

 bark of the trunk is quite smooth and of a bluish gray color very like 

 that of the Beech tree. 



HABITAT. The hammocks of the peninsula of Florida, the southern 

 keys, Bahamas and Cuba. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood one of the very lightest of the 

 American forests, soft, weak, compact, coarse-grained, with fine 

 medullary rays, very perishable and of a brownish white color with 

 sap-wood somewhat lighter. Specific Gravity, 0.2616; Percentage of 

 Ash, 5.03; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.2484; Coefficient of 

 Elasticity, 25699; Modulus of Rupture, 239; Resistance to Longi- 

 tudinal Pressure, 162 ; Resistance to Indentation, 61 ; Weight of a Cubic 

 Foot in pounds, 16.30. 



USES. The wood is used to a limited extent for interior work, and 

 aside from the occasional planting of the tree as an ornamental shade 

 tree it is of little economic value. The fruit though edible is little 

 eaten. It is eagerly devoured by birds. 



ORDER POLYGONACE-flE: BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. 



Leaves mostly alternate, coriaceous and entire, petiolate and with stipules 

 united sheathing the stem. Flowers perfect, regular; calyx 5-lobed, or 5-parted, 

 persistent; petals ncne; stamens usually 8, with slender filaments and 2-celled 

 anthers; pistil solitary, superior, with 2-cleft or 3-cleft style and i-celled ovary 

 containing a single orthotropcus ovule. Fruit an achenium or nutlet enveloped 

 by an enlarged calyx-tube and lobes. 



A family of nearly 1,000 species, grouped in about 30 genera, of 

 mostly herbaceous plants of the temperate zone. Of these the Buck- 



