5i6 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



after fertilization become thick and fleshy, constituting the fruit. 

 The best figs come from Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Provence. 



A large number of the plants belongiftg to the Moraceae yield 

 economic products, some of which, as the drug Cannabis indica 

 obtained from Cannabis sativa, are powerful narcotics. Hash- 

 ish or BHANG is a preparation made from the dried leaves, stems, 

 and flowers of the pistillate plants and is smoked either alone or 

 with tobacco, or chewed in combination with other substances, or 

 an intoxicating drink is made from it, it being extensively used 

 by the inhabitants of Arabia, Persia, India, and other Oriental 

 countries. The leaves of Ficus Ribes of the Philippine and Mo- 

 lucca Islands are smoked like opium. The milk-juice of a number 

 of plants belonging to the Moraceae is the source of arrow poisons. 

 The URARi POISON of Brazil is obtained from Ficus atrox ; the 

 IPOH ARROW POISON of Java and Borneo is derived from the Upas- 

 tree, Antiaris toxicaria. Many of the plants of the group contain 

 emetic principles, as the Cocillana bark of Guarea Rusbyi, a 

 tree of Bolivia. 



The milk- juice of quite a number of species of Ficus yields 

 India-rubber or caoutchouc (Fig. 128) , as Ficus elastica of the East 

 Indies, F. toxicaria of South America, F. clliptica and F. prinoides 

 of New Granada and several other species of Brazil, Brosimum 

 spurium of Jamaica, Cecropia peltata of the West Indies and 

 South America, and Castilloa elastica of Mexico and the West 

 Indies. Ficus benghalensis of India and tropical Africa, and 

 Ficus Tsiela of India, yield gum-lac. Ficus altissima and F. 

 religiosa of tropical Asia yield shellac on the puncture of the stems 

 by a hemipterous insect {Coccus lacca). 



A yellow coloring principle is found in Cudrania javanensis 

 of tropical Asia and Africa, CJiloropJiora tinctoria of Mexico, 

 Madura aurantiaca (Toxylon pomifenim) or osage orange, a 

 hedge plant of North America ; Ficus tinctoria of the Friendly 

 Islands and F. asperrima of India. A fixed oil is obtained from 

 Artocarpus Blumei of Java. 



A large number of the plants of the Moraceae yield edible 

 fruits besides the fig tree already described, as the bread-fruit 

 trees {Artocarpus incisa) of the Sunda Islands and the Jack-tree 



