07} the Tlortus Molabavicus, Fart III. 141 



judged to be his Folium poli tori urn {Herb. Amb. iv. 128. t.6S.). 

 These Burmaii also considered (i7. Ind. 226. j as the same spe- 

 cies, which from the Javanese name he called Ficus Ampelos. 

 M. Lamarck, treating of the F. Awpilos {Eue, ÂIctIi. ii. 496.), 

 quotes Rumphius with doubt ; on what grounds he does not say, 

 but his plant has the mouth of the reeeptaculum so open as to 

 render it an intermediate link between Ficus and Ambora ; from 

 which we may safely conclude that it is neither the Folium poli- 

 torium nor Teregam. On this account probably Willdenow has 

 altogether omitted the Ficus Atnpclos ; and on the authority of 

 Loureiro has referred the Folium politorium to a species which 

 he calls Ficus politoria {Sp. PI. iv. 1144.), a name which he 

 should not have used, because M. Lamarck had previously given 

 it to a very difierent species (Eiic. Mctlt. ii. 500.). Besides, as 

 Loureiro describes the fruit to be disposed in spikes, he probably 

 meant a plant different from that of Rumphius and Rheede, 

 although it may have leaves fitted to polish wood ; — for such a 

 quality is found in several species of this genus, and is there- 

 fore no proof of identity. In this opinion I am confirmed by 

 Dr. Roxburgh, who neglects Loureiro's quotation, and calls the 

 Folium politorium, Ficus cxasperato {Ilort. Beng 66.), thinking it 

 different from the Ficus Ampelos of Kœnig [Ilort. Beng. 103.). 

 Whatever may be the case with these modern innovations, 1 

 have little or no douljt of the Teregam and Folium, politorium 

 being the same plant, and of their being the Ficus Ampelos of 

 Burman. 



The name Cara-vatti, applied to this tree by the Brahmans of 

 Malabar, contains both a specific and generic appellation. Cara, 

 the specific name, signifies "wild;" and Vatti is a «corruption of 

 lata, the Sanscrita name of the Ficus inclica, a word perhaps 

 derived from the same root with the J^ates of the Latin, as 

 under the shade of this tree the Gymnosophists of old delivered 



their 



