on the Hortus Malaharicus, Fart III. 147 



TsjELA, p. 80. t. 63. 



The natives of Malabar seem to consider this Ficus as the 

 prototype of a genus, giving it no specific name. What Tsjela 

 means, I do not know ; but Asouatou (the name used by the 

 Brahmans) is the same with Asxcattha, a name given by the 

 Bengalese to the Ficus religiosa. Both indeed are verj^ nearly 

 allied ; for they have sessile figs growing in pairs, and neither 

 sends roots from the branches. Further, both are usually para- 

 sitical plants, and at first take root either on other trees or on 

 walls, which they soon destroy, leaving a congeries of roots 

 above-ground in place of a stem. Both however, if planted in 

 the ground, thrive well, and produce stately and ornamental 

 stems. There are, however, several other Fici which grow in a 

 similar parasitical manner ; and among these, some of the kinds 

 called Faringa by Rumphius, and Alou by Rheede, although 

 these send roots fi'om their branches. 



Plukcnet after Ray calls this plant Ficus Mahiharica, fructu 

 Ribesii forma et magnitudinc, Tsiela dicta {Aim. 145.), and com- 

 pares it to the Arbor Sycophora Caryophylli aromatici foliis et 

 facie Jamaicensis {Aim. 42.), of which a figure is given in the 

 Flnjtographia {t. 266. f. 1.). Plukenet, however, merely com- 

 pares the plants, and by no means says that they are the same. 

 He adds in a concluding sentence, that from its branches it 

 sends down fibres, which take root : but it is not perfectly clear 

 whether he means this to apply to the Tsiela or to the plant of 

 Jamaica. If he meant the former, he ^^as misinformed, as 

 Rheede does not say a word of such a circumstance ; and all 

 persons whom I consulted agreed in denying its taking place. 

 Plukenet himself seems to have been sensible of some error 

 here ; for in the ]\[anfissa, 75, he considers the Tsjela as pro- 

 bably being the Ficus Indica Mali Limoniœ folio, subtus caues- 



u 2 cente^ 



