186 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



which, in our plantations, are derived from the genera of the Elm, 

 Date, Mulberry, Broussonetia, and the beautiful species of Ficus 

 which are grown in our gardens and houses as foliage plants. 1 There 

 are but few American and Asiatic Figs the wood of which is of any 

 utility, as it is generally soft and brittle ; mention is made, however, 

 in India, of Ficus religîosa, from which idols are sculptured ; in Tahiti, 

 of F. Unctoria Forst., of which some domestic utensils arc made ; in 

 Abyssinia, of F. panifica, Miq., employed for the same purpose, the 

 specific name of which is derived from the natives eating tbe 

 inner bark as bread ; in Java, of F. alba Bl. and fulca Beinw., 

 Madura javonica Bl. and Cudranus amboinensis of Bumphius, the 

 woods of which are coloured yellow. The Letter or Snake wood of 

 Guyana is attributed to plants of this family. Piratinera guianensis 

 is the best known. The negroes make rice-pestles and canes of it ; 

 and the Galibis their bows and traps (boutous). The spotted kind of 

 commerce comes, it is said, from Brosimum guianense, a species of the 

 same genus, as well as, very probably, from Ferolia guianensis of 

 Aublet, which produces the Bois satiné, or Ferole, an excellent red 

 essence, streaked with yellow, heavy, compact and susceptible of a 

 fine polish. 



1 Madura and Abelicea are more rarely cul- 

 tivated in the open ground and in our conserva- 

 tories, Dorstenia, curious for the varied form 

 of the receptacle of its inflorescence, Cono- 

 cephalus and Artocarpus for the heauty of their 

 foliage, and Trmdia africcma and an Antiaris. 

 Many useful products have necessarily been 

 omitted in the enumeration we have just made. 

 Calius lactescens Blaxco (p. 164, note 12) has 

 an edible fruit and a milky juice, but it is not 

 poisonous, for small cattle feed on its leaves 

 when other forage fails. Friction with the 

 macerated bark is said to cure the bite of veno- 

 mous snakes. Getah-laltoe, a kind of vegetable 



wax of Sumatra, attributed to Ficus cerifera Bl. 

 to Bleekrodea, and to certain Sapotaceœ, appears 

 to render great service in surgery as a local ag- 

 glutinative medicine (Vanhencel), and also in- 

 ternally as an antidiarrhcetic. This substance 

 might also be employed for making tapers 

 (Bleekrode, Ami. Sc. Nat. sér. 4. iii. 330, t. 11), 

 Many fossil plants belonging to this family 

 enter into the constitution of certain lands. 

 Unoer (Chlor. Proton, t. 24-26) has described 

 XJlmites and Ulminium. There are Elms and 

 Figs in the tertiary strata (Sap. Ann. Sc. Nat. 

 sér. 4, xix. 112 ; sér. 5, xviii. 39, etc.). 



