^Ll 



POLYGAMTA DKECIA. 



I: ;-;!' 



407 



I 



F. nitida. Krof. FL L 111 'i^-- 



F. pertusa. fFilld. Sp. Pi. 4. p. 1144 



Horf. Kcw. 5. p. 487. Spreng. Synt. 3 

 ;x781.t 



r 



* Mr. Sweet considers tlie Ficus nitlda of the Exotic Flora 

 as a distinct species, under tfie tillc F. llookeri. 1 had the 

 satisfaction of conversing- with him on this subject; and I 

 readily admit that the F, nitida, represenlcd in the Exotic 

 Flora, must, from the ilg-ure and definition there gfiven, be con- 

 sidered as a species distinct from the F. nitida of Roomer. Yet 

 it is said, that the plant from which Dr. liool%er*s plate was 

 taken was broug-ht from the West-Indies; and in some respects 

 it is exceeding-ly like the Garden Mang-rove of Barbados. The 

 dissimilarity is principally in the form of the leaf, which seems 

 to have varied very much even on the specimen from which tho 

 drawing was taken. The colour of the leaf is also much paler, and 

 the disposition to be 3-nerved is not exhibited. These points of 

 dilTerence may in a great deg-rec be accounted for from the ori- 

 ginal of Dr. Hooker^s plate having been a hot-liouse exotic; 



and I am therefore induced to pause before admitting the F. 

 Hookcri as a distinct species. 



t The F. pertusa of Willdenow, Aiton, and Sprengel, '^ re- 

 ceptaculis globosis sessilibus,'' cannot be tlie same species as the 

 F. pertusa of Roemer, " receptaculis globosis pedunculatis." 

 The pertusa of Willdenow seems to be the same as tho nitida of 

 Roemer, and both identical w ith the Itti Arcalou of Rheede and 

 the Garden Mangrove of Hughes. This species of Ficus, although 

 very common in Barbados, is seldom or never ofaccidental growth, 

 being propagated principally from layers or cuttings of the stem, 

 very rarely from the seed, and planted in the neighbourhood of 

 dwellinir-houses on account of its great beauty and evergreen 



