582 



FESTUCA 



FICUS 



FEST0CA (an ancient name of uncertain meaning). 

 Graminece. FESCUE GRASS. Usually cespitose, peren- 

 nial grasses of varying habit. Lvs. rather dry, harsh, 

 and usually narrow. Spikelets several, in dense or loose 

 and spreading panicles; empty glumes unequal, mostly 

 keeled ; flowering-glumes not keeled, pointed. Spe- 

 cies about 80, in all parts of the world. They are 

 essentially permanent pasture grasses, but some are 

 useful for lawns and ornamental purposes. 



glauca, Lam. (Festuca ovlna, var. glauca, Hack.). 

 BLUE FESCUE GRASS. A handsome, tufted, hardy per- 

 ennial grass^with deep, silvery blue leaves resembling 

 the common Sheep's Fescue (Festuca orina), and by 

 most authors regarded as a variety of it. Lvs. very 

 narrow, conduplicate : panicle somewhat one-sided and 

 short : spikelets 3-8-fld. , with a short awn. An attractive 

 plant for edgings or for contrast of foliage with deeper 

 colored plants. Often used also in hanging-baskets, 

 window-boxes and the rockery. It will grow almost any- 

 where if not too densely shaded. Propagated by divi- 

 sion of the tufts. 



amethystina, Host. (F. ovlna, var. psammophila, 

 Hack.). A very pretty grass with violet-colored culm 

 and sheaths: Ivs. somewhat thin and long, blue-green: 

 panicles slightly branched, small, often violet-colored: 

 spikelets short-awned, seldom awnless. Europe. Use- 

 ful as an ornamental grass in the garden for dry, sunny 

 places. Propagated by division. 



Various Fescues are used in pastures and in lawn grass mix- 

 tures. F. duriiiscula. Linn. (Festuca ovina, var. duriuscula, 

 Hack.). A slender, densely tufted perennial grass, 1-2 ft. high: 

 Ivs. very fine, radical, closely resembling Sheep's Fescue. Pani- 

 cle open. Eu. Thrives on dry, sandy soils unfit for the growth 

 of better grasses. It possesses some value as a lawn grass, but 

 if used for this purpose should be sown thickly and unmixed 

 with other grasses. F. heterophylla, Lam. A rather slender 

 perennial European grass, 2-4 ft. high: Ivs. of two distinct 

 forms, the radical ones 3-nerved, narrow, hairy and folded to- 

 gether; those on the culms much broader, flat, and 5-7-ribbed: 

 panicle large, open and nodding at the apex. Eu. It is an 

 excellent grass for woodland parks, where it is too shady for 

 the successful growth of other lawn grasses. 



P. B. KENNEDY. 



FETTICUS. Another name for Corn Salad. 

 FEVERBUSH. See Benzoin. 

 FEVERFEW. Chrysanthemum Parthenium. 

 FEVER TREE is Pinckneya pubens. 

 FEVERWORT. Triosteum. 



FIBER PLANTS are treated only incidentally in this 

 work. Division of Publications, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C., issues free publications 

 of the Office of Fiber Investigations. 



FlCUS (ancient Latin name). Urticacece. The Fig, 

 the India Rubber Plant, the Banyan Tree and the Creep- 

 ing Fig of conservatory walls belong to this vast and nat- 

 ural genus, which has over 600 species scattered through 

 the warmer regions of the world. Ficus has no near ally 

 of garden value. It is a genus of trees or shrubs and 

 climbers, with milky juice. In the common Fig the Ivs. 

 are deeply lobed, but in most of the other species they 

 are entire or else the margin is wavy or has a few teeth 

 or an occasional small lobe. The Ivs. are nearly always 

 alternate, F. hispida being the only species of those de- 

 scribed below which has opposite Ivs. The foliage in 

 Ficus varies all the way from leathery to membranous, 

 and is astonishingly variable in venation, so that the 

 veins are very helpful in telling the species apart. 

 What the horticulturist calls the Fig, or fruit, is the fleshy 

 receptacle, while the fruit of the botanist is the seed in- 

 side (Fig. 817). In the following account fruit is used 

 instead of receptacle. 



The fertilization or capriflcation of the Fig is one of 

 the most surprising, interesting and complicated chap- 

 ters in natural history, and is of great practical impor- 

 tance. See Fig, where the culture of F. Carica is dis- 

 cussed. 



The most important ornamental plant in the genus is 

 the India Rubber Plant (F. elastica), which probably 



ranks amongst the 25 most popular foliage plants for 

 home use indoors. Its culture is given below at length. 

 This is one of the most important rubber- producing 

 plants. See Rubier Plants. 



The Creeping Fig ( F. pumila, better known as repens 

 or stipulata), is one of the commonest and best climbers 

 for covering conservatory walls. It clings close and 

 makes a dense mat of foliage, which is about as dark in 

 color as the English ivy. The plant has been cult, since 

 1771, but within the last quarter century has come to be 

 recognized as the best plant there is for its special pur- 

 pose. Once in a long while it fruits in conservatories, 

 and the fruiting branches are very unlike the barren 

 ones. They stand out from the conservatory wall in- 

 stead of lying flat and close. The Ivs. of the barren 

 branches are less than an inch long 

 and heart - shaped, with one side 

 longer than the other at the base 

 and a very short petiole ; the Ivs. 

 of fruiting branches are 2-3 inches 

 long, elliptic-oblong, narrowed at 

 the base, and with a petiole some- 

 times half an inch long. 



Among the many wonders of the 

 genus Ficus are the epiphytal habit 

 of some, the huge spread of the 

 Banyan Tree (F. Benghalensis), 

 and the fact that some species ripen 

 their fruits under ground. Some of 

 the tallest tropical trees are mem- 

 bers of this genus, and often they 

 begin life by climbing upon other 

 trees. The Ficus often overtops and 

 outlives the other tree, which may 

 be seen in every stage of decay, or 

 may have entirely disappeared, 

 leaving the giant climber twined 

 spirally around a great hollow cyl- 

 inder. The Banyan Tree sends down 

 some of its branches (or aerial 

 roots) into the soil, these take root, 

 make new trunks, and eventually 

 produce a great forest, in which it 

 is impossible to tell the original 

 trunk. The Banyan in the botanic 

 gardens at Calcutta sprung from 

 a seed probably dropped by a passing bird into the crown 

 of a da^e palm a little more than a century ago. The 

 main trunk is now 42 ft. in circumference ; there are 

 232 additional trunks, many of them 8-10 ft. in circum- 

 ference, and the branches extend over an area 850 ft. 

 in circumference, forming a dense evergreen canopy 

 through which sunlight never penetrates. The Banyan 

 under which Alexander camped, and which is said to 

 have sheltered 7,000 men, now measures 2,000 ft. in 

 circumference and has 3,000 trunks. Other species 

 have the same method of propagation, but F. Benghal- 

 ensis is the most famous. 



The various species of Ficus are cultivated for fruit, 

 for ornament in greenhouses, and for shade outdoors in 

 the extreme South, as indicated in the key by A, AA, and 

 AAA. The shade trees are procurable from southern 

 Florida and southern California. 



Index of names (synonyms in italic) : 



817. Young Fies. 

 Showing how they 

 arise from the axils 

 of the leaves. 



A. Cult, for fruit. 



1. ^Carica, Linn. Figs. 817, 821, 822. Height 15-30 ft.: 

 Ivs. 3-5-lobed, the lobes more or less wavy-margined 

 or lobed, and with palmate veins, whereas nearly all 

 species mentioned below are pinnately veined : fr. 

 single, axillary, pear-shaped. Supposed to be a native 

 of Caria, in Asia Minor. Makes a fine pot-plant, and 

 fruits freely in northern conservatories. For culture, 

 see Fig. 



