UKOSTIGMA. 



01 



entire, sub-undulate; base usually rounded and slightly emarginate or sub-cordate, sometimes 



ed or acute^ 3-nerved; lateral main nerves 5 to 7, not very prominent; lengtl 



of blade 3-5 to 5 in. ; petioles 1-5 to 2 in. long, sometimes indistinctly jointed at tin ir 



ith the blade; stipules about -5 in. long, broadly ovate-acute, pubescent external! 



v : 



J 



receptacles axillary, in pairs, sessile, globular, when ripe -2"> in. acrow, whitish, flushed 

 with red and dotted; basal bracts 3, ovate-rotund, minute; male flowers few, sessile, near 

 the mouth of the receptacles; stamen single, the anther broadly ovate, filament short ; 

 perianth of four or five linear pieces; gall flowers and fertile female fioweit with perianth 

 of 3 or 4 pieces like those of the male, the latter often scaale; style of fertile female 

 long, of gall flower short, stigma elongate. 



On the plains of India, Burmah, and the Malayan region. Not very common anywhere 

 wild, but frequently planted near villi 



This is a truly deciduous species. Towards the end of the cold season it is entirely 



o 



leafless. But it remains so for only a few days, for the leaf-buds quickly be^in to swell 

 and as they expand they are seen to be covered by remarkably large (lf> to 2 » in. 

 lono*), membranous, linear-lanceolate, flaccid, pubescent leaf-scales. These scales grow 



as the leaves grow, but fall off before the latter are full-grown, and leave no trace of 



themselves. They are rarely seen in herbaria. Similar scales occur in Bcnyalmsi*, tjakd* 



and other species. 



There has been very great confusion both as to plants and as to synonyms in connection 



with this species, and I shall attempt to disentangle it. In the confusion three plants are con- 

 cerned. Kheede (in HorL Malab. iii. 87 and t. 64) described and figured under its vernaeular 

 name tsjaMa a species of Ficus common in S.W. India. Kheede's figure if an exe Uent 

 likeness and, if one has seen the tree, it is impossible to doubt what Rheede meant by hjahela. 

 But by one' who has not seen the tsjalcela growing, Rheede's figure might be supposed to 



represent the pakur of Bengal. Rheede's tsjalcela was named by Bwmann (PL Ind. 227 



Ficus tjakela. In the first edition of the Hortus Kewensis iii. 451, the name was changed to 



Ait and in the Calcutta copy of the Ilort. Malab. the nam.- rmosa has been written 



F, 



i 



by Solanders own hand. In his Sort. Bool. 36. t 36, * i Mono, ^described and figged 

 p ant which he imagined to be venosa, Ait., bnt which is *eally the to ally duffer,, ,t plan, w „, 



Poiret in Eoeyc. Method. Supp. ii. 654 named F. leucantatonu, WiHdcnow d^, red n 



as ten a. 



bTnnder b: Hnsie'ad of correcting it, he (in his edition of Z,™ S P cc 2W iv 1.* 

 kept the name venosa for the plant which he had wrongly figured and tembed I " ~ 



AH and itave the new name **** to the true ™' ^ rf ** hrSt f T" A 



Itrt. tJS ™* M-^ of WiHdenow was accepted by the editor of the second 



edit 



as F. inferior ia 



olZHort. Ke»., and in that work the F. tjukela of Kheede and Ih.rnmnn a, 



Willd. Buchanan Hamilton, in his Commmtarg on the Hortus MM 



,. n • + „j nll i Willdenow's mistake and described, under the 

 (Linn. Trans, xv. 151), pointed jut ™JSLgh perpetuated Willdenow's blonder in 



F. venosa, Poir Rheede * *** ^7,^^ figure of «** for a figure of 



his Hortus Bengatensu, for, mistaking no . ttou o 



the Bengali^, he applied the ^^ 'J^^^tL £m and a,ta,,„ 1 



(iii. 551) he quoted Rheede. ^° f ^ ^lis. The « *** of WOldeuow is 

 these to a description ° { ™J»*" at , u J yes of Ma i aba r, while the F. infietoria of 



therefore the tsjaMa of Rheede and of ££"£*„, Bucl ' ianan 1Iami , t „„, in Li,,,, 



Roxb. is the pakur of the B ^ amcd t]ie pilkur of the Bengalis under the nam. of 



Trans, xv. 150, had described and nameu. r _ LJ „„,.,.„„,, M JV , 0A 



F. lacor 



) 



' r. ■ t v l„™r named by Hamilton s own 



Ham. Specunens of /• laeor nameu uy 



hand were issued as 4529 A 



