



FICUS, Lam. 



Flowers unisexual (staminiferous, pistiliferous, or gall), or pseudo-hermaphrodite, rarely 

 asexual, collected in various ways on more or less globose ovoid or pyriform concave receptacle s 

 which are closed at the apex by numerous bracteoles. Male flowers with 1, 2, or rarely 3 

 exserted or included ovate or oblong stamens, without rudimentary pistil (except in Palceomorphc), 

 the perianth of 2 to 6 distinct pieces, or gamophyllous and 2- to (5-partite, or absent. Fertile 

 female flowers with a single pistil and without rudimentary stamens, the ovary 1 -celled with 

 1 pendulous ovule, the style more or less lateral, longer than the ovary and surmounted by 

 the clavate cylindric peltate or bifid stigma, the perianth of 2 to 6 distinct pieces, or 

 gamophyllous 2- to 6-partite, or absent; achenes more or less obovoid or reinform, rarely 



g 



lobular, with a minutely tuberculate 



or undulate hard pericarp, often with a g 



lairy 



or 



mucilaginous outer coat; the seed pendulous, with small albumen, the embryo more or less 



cur 



ved. 



Gall flowers similar to the fertile females, but not containing embryos, and often 



occupied by the pupa of a species of Blastnphaga or other Hymenopterous insect; the ovary 

 ovoid or globular, its pericarp thin and membranous, or thick, brittle, and crustaceous ; 

 the style shorter than in the fertile female, often dilated above into a more or less trumpet- 



shaped false stigma. Neuter flowers (occurring only in section Sjjncecia) pedicillate with 

 perianth like the males, asexual Male, gall and fertile female flowers collected on the same 

 receptacle* or males and galls on a distinct set of receptacles, fertile females and neuters on 

 another set : or males and galls on one set of receptacles and fertile females on a distinct set ; 

 flowers often mixed with scales or hairs. Receptacles usually homo- rarely di-moiphous, 

 closed at the mouth by numerous scales arranged in rows, the uppermost of which often partly 

 project externally and form an umbilicus; the base rounded or narrowed and usually 

 subtended by three bracts, sessile or pedunculate, in pairs in the axils of the leaves or of the 



of fallen leaves, solitary by abortion, or in fascicles from tubercles (shortened branchlets) 



scars 



from the main branches or stem, or on long subaphyllous branches proceeding from the 

 stem near its base. Trees or shrubs with milky juice; leaves alternate, rarely opposite, 

 stipulate, entire, serrate, dentate, or lobed ; smooth, hairy, or scabrid ; the leaf -buds sometimes 

 covered by deciduous leaf -scales. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE SECTIONS OF THE GENUS 



I. Palceomorphe 



Male flowers with 1 stamen and a rudimentary pistil occupying th< 





