286 URTICACEvE. 



16. anabatos, (Ficus scandens, Roxb. ji. ind. 3, p. 536 ; not Lam.) S \^ 

 Silhet. Fruit-receptacles axillary, paired, longish-peduncled, globular, 

 rough, the size of a black currant ; in H. C. G. appearing and ripening 

 the whole year. {Roxb.) 



17. Goolereea, Roxb. {ji. ind. 3, p. 538.) 5 Hindoosthan. Fruit-recep- 

 tacles axillary, paired, long-peduncled, nearly globose, downy. In- 

 troduced into H. C. G. before 1814. Fl. ? 



18. Wassa, Roxb. (/. ind. 3, p. 539; — Rumph. 3, t. 94,) ^ Moluccas. 

 Fruit- receptacles axillary, solitary or paired, peduncled, compressedly 

 turnip -shaped, smooth, the size of a gooseberry, appearing in H. C. 

 G. in H. S. ; ripening, R. S. {Roxb.) 



19. indica, L. {Amoen. acad. 1, p. 27; — Roxb, fl. ind. 3, p. 539; — 

 J. Grah. Cat. B. pi. p- 189; not Forsk, nor Lam. or Vahl. — F. 

 bengalensis, L. syst j — Rheed. \,t. 28.) ■^ But. Banyan-tree. L. 

 b radicant. Fruit-receptacles axillary, paired, sessile, as large as 

 a middle-sized cherry, appearing and ripening H. S. Common all 

 over India, in some places of an immense size. Lieut. Colonel Sykes 

 mentions one at the village of Mhow, in the Poonah Collectorate, 

 with 68 stems descending from the branches, and capable of af- 

 fording shade, under a vertical sun, to 20,000 men. {Madr. Journ. 

 of Science, No. 22.) Kabir Bur, near Broach, now the gloomy recess 

 of superstitions, and the haunt of its hateful birds, the owls and flying 

 foxes. {Nimmo.) Bark smooth, light ash- coloured. Wood light, 

 white, and porous. Leaves used by the Brahmins to eat off, for which 

 purpose they are joined together by inkles. Birdlime is prepared 

 from the tenacious milky juice, which every part of the tree yields in 

 abundance on being wounded. Birds eat the fruit, and the seeds grow 

 the better for having passed through them. If they drop in the axils 

 of the leaves of the Palmyra-tree, (Borasus flabelliformis, L.) they 

 grow, and extend their descending parts so as in time to embrace 

 entirely the Palmyra, except its upper parts. In very old ones the 

 top thereof is just seen issuing from the trunk of the Banyan itself, as 

 if it grew from thence, whereas it runs down through its centre, and 

 has its roots in the ground, the Palm being the oldest. {Roxb.) 



20. elastica, Roxb. ( fl. ind. 3, p. 541; — Spreug. syst. 3, p. 781 ; — J. 

 Grah. Cat. B. pi. p. 190.) Indian Rubber-tree. L. b radicant. 

 Khassya Mountains. Assam. Friut-receptacles axillary, paired, sessile, 

 oval, smooth, the size of an olive, appearing, H. S. ; ripening, R. S. 

 Every part of this tree abounds in a rich milky juice which furnishes 

 about one-third of its weight of Caoutchouc, a substance also dis- 

 covered by Dr. Roxburgh in Urceola elastica, Roxb., Willoughbeia 

 edulis, Roxb., and Melodinus raonogynus, Forst. With the milky 

 juice the natives paint the insides of their vessels and baskets, and 

 the Caoutchouc furnishes them with candles and flambeaux. (Roxb.) 

 For a circumstantial account of this tree, see Roxb. 1. c. 



