THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 371 



times places his idols beneath this rustic and mysterious 

 temple, where the Indian bows his forehead towards the 

 sacred Ganges. It is to this custom that the tree owes its 

 common name of the pagoda fig-tree. 



The number of aerial roots on this fig-tree is sometimes 

 considerable, and the mother tree produces all round it an 

 impenetrable colonnade, composed of supports of all sizes. 

 There are some on which as many as 350 of these great 

 roots can be counted, to which from 2000 to 3000 little ones 

 are joined ; it seems a forest in the midst of a forest. An 

 Indian tradition tells that Alexander passed near one of 

 these gigantic trees, which still exists by the Nerbuddah. 



The aerial roots of the Clusia rosea produce different re- 

 sults. The plant lets them drop from the top of the palm- 

 tree. At first fragile and harmless, they twine themselves 

 innocently round the stems, but very shortly they become 

 welded together, and, finding in the soil a superabundance 

 of vital matter, these roots form a thick woody mantle, and 

 their tortuous arms, compressing their protector more and 

 more, finish by fixing it in the middle of an unyielding 

 sheath, so as to choke it. Hence the accursed fig-tree for 

 this is the common name of the parasite is the living 

 symbol of ingratitude. 1 



De Candolle admits, without any circumlocution, that ab- 



1 The Clusia rosea, or rose-flowered balsam-tree, is a handsome tree, growing to 

 the height of 20 or 30 feet, and inhabiting America. Its seeds are often carried 

 by birds and left upon the limbs or trunks of other trees. Here they take root, 

 the rootlets crawling along the stem till they find some cavity containing decay- 

 ing vegetable matter. When the nutritious matter of this is exhausted a root is 

 sent down to the ground, perhaps a distance of 40 feet, and having fixed itself 

 there it supplies nourishment to the whole plant, which is then no longer a mere 

 parasite. TR. 



