584 



FICUS 



FICUS 



F. Young Ivs. densely covered with wool beneath. 



16. Palmeri, Watson. Tree, 8-12 ft. high, branching 

 near the ground : Ivs. 3 in. long, 2-2% in. wide ; petiole 

 1 in. long : fr. in pairs, axillary, globose, > in. thick. 

 Discovered on San Pedro Martin Island, northwestern 

 Mexico, 1887. Perhaps the best adapted to severely hot 

 and dry places. Franceschi says it attains 30 ft. 



FF. Young Ivs. not woolly. 



G. Base of Ivs. narrowed. 



H. Stipules glabrous. 



17. retusa, Linn. (F. nitida, Thunb., and Hort., not 

 Blume). Lvs. 2-4 in. long; nerves 5 or 6 pairs; petiole 

 3-6 lines long: fr. sessile, in pairs, axillary, 4 lines thick, 

 yellow or reddish. Trop. Asia, Malaya. A large ever- 

 green tree with a few aerial roots. 



18. aurea, Nutt. Branches pale, smooth, furrowed : 

 Ivs. 3-4 in. long, smooth, oblong, entire, narrowed but 

 obtuse at each end, stout-petioled : fr. orange-yellow, 

 globose, 4 lines thick. S. Fla. Reasoner says it is a 

 handsome decorative plant for the florist, and that it 

 grows 60 ft. high. Chapman describes it as a small tree; 

 lie says nothing about stipules. Tender in Santa Bar- 

 bara. 



HH. Stipules not glabrous. 



19. Indica, Linn. Not the Banyan Tree. Glabrous 

 throughout, except stipules : Ivs. 4-7 in. long ; nerves 

 about 4-6 pairs, not very prominent ; petiole 4-12 lines 

 long ; stipules 6-9 lines long : fr. in crowded pairs, ses- 

 sile, globose, smooth, yellowish red, 4 lines thick. Trop. 

 Asia, Malaya. This species is greatly confused in 

 botanical literature with F. Benghalensis, but F. In- 

 dica does not take root from its branches, as does the 

 Banyan Tree. In recent writings F. Indica is often 

 given as a synonym of F. Bengha lensis, but the dis- 

 tinctions here given are those made by King, in Flora 

 British India 5: 499 (1890). Tree grows 50 ft. high. 



GG. Base of Ivs. rounded. 

 H. Nerves about 5 pairs : Ivs. 4-8 in. long. 



20. Benghalensis, Linn. BANYAN TREE. Also written 

 Bengalensis. Young parts softly pubescent : nerves 

 prominent; petiole 6-18 lines long; stipules 9-12 lines 

 long : fr. in pairs, sessile, globose, puberulous, red, 



819. The Creeping Fig on a conservatory wall. 

 Ficus pumila, better known as F. repens or .P. stipulata. 



about the size of a small cherry. Trop. Africa, India. 

 A tree, 70-100 ft. high, rooting from the branches, thus 

 forming accessory trunks and extending the growth of 

 the tree indefinitely. For an explanation of the confu- 

 sion between Benghalensis and Indica, see Hooker's 

 Flora Brit. India 5:499, 500. 



HH. Nerves about 8 pairs : Ivs. 4%-7 x 3-4% in. long. 

 21. religidsa, Linn. PEEPUL TREE of the Hindoos. 

 Petiole 3-4 in. long ; stipules minute : fr. in axillary 

 pairs, sessile, dark purple, % in. thick. India. Gn. 1, p. 

 435. Grows 100 ft. high, and the Ivs., suspended on 

 their long, flexible petioles, rustle in the slightest breeze. 



F. Afzelii, G. Don, is a plant from S. Afr., never described by 

 Don. The plant in the trade is said to be F. eriobotroides. 

 Once advertised for indoor ornament by Pitcher & Manda. 

 F. carnom, Hort. Advertised 1895 by Pitcher & Manda for in- 

 doors. F. Chauvierii, Hort. In Europe this is said to be sec- 

 ond only to F. elastica. Franceschi says it has broader and 

 more oval Ivs., and comes from NewCaledonia, where it attains 

 60 ft. J. D. Eisele says that it lias oval Ivs. with creamy white 

 veins, is strong-growing, and should be valuable for subtropical 

 gardening. F. Cooperi, Hort., is cult, indoors fromtrop. Amer. 

 Advertised 1895 by Pitcher & Manda. .F. Cunninghami is a 

 new species of great size, producing aerial roots ; introduced 

 by California Experiment Station, and recommended by Rea- 

 soner Bros, for house culture in the South. Presumably 

 from Austral. -F. eriobotroides, Kunth& Bouche. Habitat un- 

 known. See F. Afzelii. F. falcdta, MIQ., is cult, but not ad- 

 vertised. A creeper with Ivs. often of 2 forms, leathery, tes- 

 selately dotted and colored beneath. It is a form of F. punc- 

 tata, with Ivs. oblong or subrhomboid, obtuse, not tapering be- 

 low. India. Before No. 8 in the key. F. lucida, Dryand. From 

 India, but not described in Flora of British India. Advertised 

 1893 by John Saul for indoors. F. princeps, Kunth & Bouche. 

 Braz. Cult, by Franceschi, who says it grows 60 ft. high and has 

 magnificent foliage, which is bronze and copper-colored when 

 young. F. pyrifblia may be F. Benjamina, erecta, Fontanesii 

 or rubra. The name is advertised by Yokohama Nursery Co., 

 who also advertise F. erecta. -^y jyj 



FICUS ELASTICA, or the Rubber Plant as it is known 

 all over this country, is perhaps the most popular and 

 satisfactory house plant that has ever been cultivated. 

 It is a plant for the million. Some florists have several 

 houses especially devoted to the propagation and culti- 

 vation of this tough and thrifty plant. There are also 

 thousands upon thousands of young plants or rooted 

 cuttings from thumb-pots imported into this country, 

 especially from Belgium and Holland, for marketing 

 every spring. It is estimated that from 75,000 to 80,000 

 Rubber Plants were sold in America during the last 

 year. There are several varieties of the Rubber Plant, but 

 the true Ficus elastica is the best, both for growing 

 and for selling. It can be easily told from the smaller- 

 leaved variety, which is smaller and lighter colored in all 

 its parts, the stem being smoother, and the sheath that 

 covers the young leaves lacking the brown tint, which 

 often runs into a bright and beautiful Indian red. 



The method of propagating now popular in America 

 employs old, bushy stock -plants, either in pots or tubs, 

 or planted out into a bed where the night temperature 

 can be kept from 60 to 75 F. As soon as the young 

 shoots are 5-6 in. long they are operated upon. An in- 

 cision is made at the place where it is intended to root 

 the young plant, cutting upward on a slant midway be- 

 tween two eyes, making the cut anywhere from 1-2 in. 

 long, according to the thickness and length "of the young 

 shoot or branch. A small wedge, as a piece of match, 

 is then inserted to keep the cut open. A large handful or 

 clean, damp, well prepared moss is then placed around 

 the branch to cover the cut and is tied moderately 

 firm with twine or raffia. Some use a small piece of 

 charcoal for a wedge in the cut; others coat the two 

 cuts with a mixture of charcoal dust and lime. The lat- 

 ter practice, in the opinion of the writer, is beneficial in 

 that it expedites the callusing of the cuts and the root- 

 ing of the young plant after being cut and mossed. The 

 moss should be kept constantly moist, and the higher 

 the temperature, within reasonable limits, the quicker 

 the rooting process goes on. The roots of the young 

 plant usually appear on the outside of the oval-shaped 

 bunch of moss. A complete cut can then be made below 

 the moss and the young plant potted. The smaller the 

 pot at first the better. The leaves of the young plants 

 should be tied up in order that they may not be in- 

 jured by coming in contact with one another or by lying 

 flat on the pots. The young plants now require a gentle 

 bottom heat and frequent syringing, a dozen times on, 

 clear days. As soon as the young plants are taken from 

 the stock-plant, a little wax should be put on the end of 

 the cut to prevent the milky sap from escaping. The 

 best time of the year to propagate and root Ficus is from 

 the first of January to May. The European growers 

 never start much before the Christmas holidays; and 

 from then until spring they make all their cuttings. 



The older method of propagating Rubber Plants is 

 still the favorite one abroad; it employs single-eye cut- 

 tings. Sometimes, if the branches are very thick, only 

 one-half the stem is taken with the eye and a single 



