542 ARTOCARPACE^. 



leaf-scars that mark the upper branches of the latter; it is reputed to 

 be somewhat less acrid than mezereon bark. The mezereon bark of 

 English trade is now mostly imported from Germany, and seems to be 

 derived from D. Mezereum. 



In France, use is made of the stem-bark of D. Gnidvmn L., a shrub 

 growing througliout the whole Mediterranean region as far as Morocco. 

 The bark is dark grey or brown, marked with numerous whitish leaf- 

 scars, which display a very regular spiral arrangement. The leaves 

 themselves, some of which are occasionally met with in the drug, are 

 sharply mucronate and very narrow. As to structural peculiarities, 

 the bark of D. Gnidium has the medullary rays more obvious and 

 more loaded with tannic matters than those of X>. Mezereum; but the 

 middle cortical layer is less developed. The bark, which is called 

 Ecorce de Gaoru, is employed as an epispastic. 



AETOCARPACE^. 

 CARIC^. 



Fructus Caricce, Fiei ; Figs ; F. Figues ; G. Feigen. 



Botanical Origin — Ficus Carica L., a deciduous tree, 15 to 20 feet 

 in height, with large rough leaves, forming a handsome mass of foliage. 



The native country of the fig stretches from the steppes of the 

 Eastern Aral, along the south and south-west coast of the Caspian Sea 

 (Ghilan, Mazanderan, and the Caucasus), through Kurdistan, to Asia 

 Minor and Syria. In these countries the fig-tree ascends into the 

 mountain region, growing undoubtedly wild in the Taurus at an 

 elevation of 4,800 feet.^ 



The fig-tree is repeatedly mentioned in the Scriptures, where with 

 the vine it often stands as the symbol of peace and plenty. The fig 

 was not known in Greece, the Archipelago, and the neighbouring coasts 

 of Asia Minor during the Homeric age, though both were very common 

 in the time of Plato, The fig-tree was early introduced into Ital}^ 

 whence it reached Spain and Gaul. In the opinion of palaeontologists 

 the fig-tree was originally indigenous to the last-named Meditei'ranean 

 regions. 



Charlemagne, A.D. 812, ordered its cultivation in Central Europe. 

 It was brought to England in the reign of Henry VIII. by Cardinal 

 Pole, whose trees still exist in the garden of Lambeth Palace. But it 

 had certainly been in cultivation at a much earlier period, for the 

 historian Matthew Paris relates^ that the year 1257 was so inclement 

 that apples and pears were scarce in England, and that Jigs, cherries, 

 and plums totally failed to ripen. 



At the present day the fig-tree is found cultivated in most of the 

 temperate countries both of the Old and New World.* It is met with 

 in the plains of north-western India, and in the outer hills of the 

 north-western Himalaya as high as 5,000 feet; also in the Dekkan, 

 and in Beluchistan and Afghanistan. 



iRitter, Erdlcunde von Asien, vii. (1844) » Introduced into Mexico by Cortez about 



2. 544. A.D. 1560. 



^Eng. Hist, Bohn's ed., iii. (1854) 255. 



