418 LXVII. URTICACEiE. [FicUS. 



limestone, gives the vernacular names as Karet, haret ta/p6k, and describes a 

 variety, bengalica (introduced from Calcutta*), with acuminate, undulate leaves. 

 In the Preface to Kumphia, ii. (1836), he says that the Java tree is capable of yield- 

 ing Caoutchouc. Miquel, Jl. Ind. Bat. i. ii. 348, makes three species — Urostiffma 

 elasticum (introduced), U. Karet and odoratum (indigenous in Java) ; but in his 

 latter work, Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. iii. 287, he unites the three under F. elas- 

 tica, Nois (evidently a misprint for Nobis in Blume). A species nearly allied 

 to P. elastica is F. macrophylla, Desf. Queensland and New South Wales. 

 There is no proof of F. elastica being iadigenous iu Australia. (Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. vi. 170.) 



F. laecifera, Eoxb. 1. c. 545 ; Wight Ic. t. 656, — ^vern. Kathal Bat, SiUiet, 

 — a large tree, wholly glabrous, with large, firm, shining, ovate or elliptic, short- 

 acumiuate leaves, petioles 1-2 in. long, with 3 basal and 4-8 main lateral nerves 

 on either side of midrib, and numerous fine intermediate nerves between; 

 fruit sessile, axillary, ovoid, the size of a gooseberry — is said to be tapped for 

 Caoutchouc, like F. elastica. This tree grows in Assam, Silhet, the Andamans, 

 Malabar (Beddome Man. 223), and probably in Burma ; the Caoutchouc yielded 

 by it merits farther examination. In Silhet Lakh is collected from its branches. 



8. P. Carica, Linn. — Fig-tree. Vern. Anjir. Local names : Kimri, 

 fdgu, faguri, fagari, Pb. 



A middle-sized deciduous tree, with glabrous, smooth, grey or brown 

 branches, the branehlets of the current year pubescent.. Leaves cordate, 

 3-5-nerved, dentate, and more or less deeply lobed, lobes obtuse, blade 

 4-8, petiole 2-3 in. long, upper side rough, under side tomentose ; stipules 

 early deciduous. Eeceptacles pedunculate, axillary, turbinate, narrowed 

 into a stalk, and supported at the base by a few membranous, early decid- 

 uous bracts. The receptacles which appear first, in the lower axils, are 

 androgynous, containing a few male, with numerous female flowers, those 

 which appear later in the year, in the upper axils, only produce female 

 flowers. Male fl. near the mouth of the fig, perianth -segments 3-5, 

 stamens 1-5, generally 3, filaments longer than perianth. Female fl. : 

 perianth-segments 3-5, ovary sometimes 2-ceIled, style lateral, filiform, 

 bifid at the top. Fruit, when ripe, yellow or dark purple, greatly varying 

 in size and colour. 



Cultivated in. the plains of N.W. India, and in the outer hUls of the N.W. 

 Himalaya, as high as 5000 ft., also in the Dekkan. Cultivated largely in Belu- 

 chistan and AfM.anistan, and said to be wild about Kandahar. Cleghom (Pan- 

 jab Forests, 177) states that Figs are indigenous (but small) in Kaghan. The 

 Fig-tree is indigenous in Syria and Palestine, and its cultivation in those coun- 

 tries is as old as that of the vine. In South Europe it is completely naturalised, 

 and is not uncommonly found in an apparently wild state. Hardy in England. 

 In the Panjab the fruit generally ripens from May to August. Bark whitish or 

 light grey, smooth or finely rugose. Wood soft, white with a yellowish tinge. Figs 

 are an important article of food in Western Asia. In Afghanistan, numerous var- 

 ieties are cultivated {makkai with black, sada with white fruit). The Figs grown 

 in India are generally poor. Dried Figs are used extensively m native jSiJarmacy 

 (Pharm. Ind. 215). Gasparrini, an Italian botanist, studied the classification of the 

 genus, the varieties ^f the (apparently) wild and cultivated Figs, and the process of 



* Blume may have received the name P. elastica from the Bot. Garden, Calcutta, 

 hut it is not included in Koxburgh's Hortus Bengalensis, and the Flora Indica did not 

 appeair until 1832, so that Blume must stand as the authority. 



