PLANTS. 323 



ful brown, marbled with white, is much used in ornamen- 

 tal cabinet work. 



FIFTY-SEVENTH FAMILY. Ficus. Trees or shrubs 

 with milky juice ; fruit fleshy and eatable ; leaves large. 

 Natives of tropical regions ; none in North America. 

 (Class 23, L.) 



The Common Fig (Ficus carica), leaves heart-shaped, 

 three to five-lobed, lobes obtuse, scabrous (rough) above, 

 pubescent (downy) beneath. Fruit is nothing more than 

 the fleshy calyx or receptacle, pear-shaped, containing 

 within its luscious pulp numerous small seeds of both 

 sexes. Known from the earliest ages, and growing wild 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean, is supposed to be a 

 native of Caria, Asia; although now cultivated in all 

 tropical climes, often growing into a tree twenty feet 

 high. Figs in their fresh state somewhat resemble large 

 pears ; color dull red or yellow ; those of the South are 

 the best, because, in their unripe state being punctured 

 by the gall- wasp, they mature earlier. ^Fhe best figs 

 come from Smyrna. This fruit, so delicious and well 

 known, is used fresh as an article of food ; dried, a favor- 

 ite desert, and also as medicine. } t. 



The wide-spreading Banyan (Ficus religiosa) of India 

 claims a place here. 



The Caoutchouc Fig (Ficus elastica) is one of a num- 

 erous genera yielding caoutchouc, contains a milky juice, 

 which, being dried, hardens into the article called Gum 

 Elastic. A native of Nepal. Leaves ovate, oblong, 

 petiolate, smooth, and glossy ; is a very handsome tree, 

 and is kept in conservatories as an ornament, f?. 



The Black Mulberry (Morus nigra). Leaves heart- 

 shaped, ovate, or lobed, obtuse, unequally serrate ; flow- 

 ers fertile ; spikes oval ; fruit resembles that of the 



