UROSTIGMA. 



15 



61. Fjcus elastic^, Boxh. Ilort. Brag. 65; Bl m Bij<l 4-16; Ro . FL Ind. iii. 541 



Wight Ic. 663 ; Griff. Ic. PL As. Dicot t. 552; Brandts For. Flora 4K : Kur* 

 For. Flora Brit. Barm, ii. AU.— Urost. clasficum, Miq. Lond. Joun Bot. vi 



578; FL Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2. 347. tab. 23 ; Wall. Cat. 4557A, B, C, D.— Vkianm 



elastiea, Gasp. Nov. Gen. Fie. 9.— Mac? op hi halm elait, •/, (J asp. Rie. 83 



tab. 8. — Far minor, Urost. circumcissum, Miq. PL Jungh. 292; FL Ind. 



Bat. i. pt. 2. 344.— Urost. karet, Miq. 1. c. 348.— Urost. odoratum, Miq. 



PL Jungh. 49 ; FL Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2. 348. lab. 24. 



A large tree, usually epiphytic, all parts quite glabrous; leaves shortly petiolato, cori- 

 aceous, shining, oblong to elliptic, apex with a rather abrupt, bluntish caudiele, edges entire 

 base rounded or narrowed, obscurely 3- to 5-nerved; lat ral primary nerves numerous, but 

 hardly to be distinguished from the numerous secondary nerves, i il diverging nearly at 

 right angles from the thick prominent midrib and running nearly straight almo t to the 



margin; length of blade 3 to 12 inches, of petiole 1 to 2*5 in.; stipule single, sub- persisted, 

 coloured, almost half as long as the leaves, lanceolate, flaccid; receptacles in pain, sessile 

 in the axils of fallen leaves, covered at first by hooded involucres which fall off and leave 

 a basal involucral entire-edged cup, when ripe ovate-oblong, smooth, greenish yellow, 

 about *5 in. long; male flowers scattered over interior of receptacle, pedhillate, the 

 perianth of 4 ovate pieces; anther ovate, sessile; gall flowers with 4-lcavt <l perianth, tlte 

 ovary smooth, style sub-terminal, hooked ; fertile female flowers mostly sessile, the achenc ovoid 



tuberculate, style long, stigma large sub-capitate. 



In damp forests at the base of the Eastern Himalaya, the Khasi Hills, Assam, Burm ah 



and the Malayan region — generally epiphytic. 



This species, in spite of the numerous names which it has received, is not in reality 

 very variable. The greatest difference observable is that between the leaves of old fruiting- 

 branches and those on young shoots, the former being very much smaller and broader in 

 proportion than those of the latter. In all states the close parallel straight nervation of 



the leaves (almost resembling that of a monocotyledon) and the enormous " stipules" form 



unmistakeable diagnostic marks 



This species was originally named elastiea by Roxb., and plants under this name v re 

 sent to Java, where however the plant is indigenous and is known to the natives 9 ha ^/— a 

 name subsequently utilised as a specific name by Miquel. Blume publish* 1 a d ription 

 of the plant under Roxburgh's name in his Bydragcn, which appeared seven years before 

 Roxburgh's Flora Indica was published, the death of the latter botanist having cau>ed tin- 

 publication of his Flora Indica to be delayed until 1832. 



In this species are well developed the involucral hoods which cover the young I p- 

 tacles in many species of the section Urostigma, bat which usually fall off very early 

 and are rarely seen in dried specimens. In F. elastiea these persist for some time, and 

 are often seen even in old herbarium specimens. The leaf-scales, too, which cover the youn 

 buds, and which in many (especially of the deciduous) species of Ficus grow pari passu 

 with the leaves, but fall off before the latter have obtained their full size, here persist 

 until the leaves are nearly full grown. They are very large and coloured, and are ordinanh 



called ' stipules.' 



Plate 54.— f. elastiea, Roxb. Fruiting-branch. 8, stipules; 9 & 10, a]. ex and hue of 



receptacles : of natural me. 1, vertical section of receptacle; 2, male flower ; 5, the same, the 



