TREES AND SHRUBS 



part ; Perianth 5-partite ; Ovary superior, 1-celled, style lateral, stigma bifid ; 

 Fruit a syconus, consisting of achenes immersed in pulpy receptacle, greenish- 

 yellow to violet-brown, 2-3 1 ins. long, one or two together in axils of leaves, 

 orifice at tip closed by small scales ; seeds very numerous. 



Leaves alternate, very variable, 3-6 ins. by 2^-7^ ins., palmately 3-7-lobed, 

 5-partite, or entire, lobes variously cut, base cordate, thick, dark green and 

 scabrous above, paler and pubescent beneath, petiole 1-2 ins. long, stout. 

 Autumn tint yellow. 



A deciduous tree, 15-30 ft. ; Branches spreading ; Biids large ; Sucke?'s 

 abundant. 



Native of Mediterranean regions, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan ; re-introduced 

 to Britain by Cardinal Pole, 1525. In Italy fertilisation is brought about 

 through the agency of a small wasp {JBlasfophaga grossorum), which lays its eggs 

 in the ovules of the abortive female flowers, producing galls, and afterwards 

 carries pollen to other female flowers. Ficus is the old Latin name for a fig-tree, 

 and is akin to the Greek sickon, a fig. 



Class 1 Dicotyledons 



Division IV^. . . . Incompletce 

 Natural Order . . Platanaceoe 



Trees, usually tall, with flaking bark, and without milky juice; Leaves 

 alternate, palmately nerved and lobed, petiolate, with sheathing stipules ; 

 Flowers small, monoecious, in globose, densely-crowded heads, the male and 

 female heads on separate pendulous peduncles, usually 3 heads on each ; Pei'ianth 

 0, or replaced by scales or bristles; Ovary 1-celled, style persistent; Fruit 

 a head of 1 -seeded nuts. 



Readily distinguished from the Sycamores or False Planes by the alternate 

 leaves. 



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