586 MOKAOE^. 



Order 166. — MoEACEiE, the Mulberry, Kg, and Bread-fruit Family. 

 {Apet. Diclin.) Flowers unisexual. Male flowers with, a 3-4-parted 

 calyx or ; stamens usually isostemonous, opposite the calyx seg- 

 ments, inserted at the base, usually 4 ; jfilaments thread-like, often 

 with inflexed sestivation. Female flowers with imbricate persistent 

 perianth, either with 3-4 sepals, or 4-5 cleft, or 0. Ovary usually 

 1-celled ; styles 1-2 ; ovule solitary, micropyle superior. Fruit an 

 achene, drupe or utricle ; albumen fleshy oj- ; embryo curved or 

 straight, axile ; radicle superior. — Trees, or shrubs, or herbs, some- 

 times climbing, with mUky juice, and alternate stipulate leaves. 

 There are two sub-orders : — 1. Moreae, the Mulberries and Figs, with 

 flowers in heads, spikes, or catkins ; fruit a sorosis or syconus ; seed 

 jjendulous ; embryo hooked ; albumen fleshy ; natives both of tem- 

 perate and tropical climates. Examples — Morus, Ficus, Sycomorus, 

 Dorstenia. 2. Artocarpese, Bread-fruits, with flowers in dense heads ; 

 fruit usually a sorosis ; seed erect or pendulous, with a variable 

 quantity of albumen ; embryo straight. Natives of tropical climates. 

 Examples — Artocarpus, Antiaris. Genera, 46 ; species, about 230. 



The common Fig is the Fruit of Ficus Carica, mUT] (Teenah) of 

 the Old Testament, and avxij of the New Testament. It consists of a 

 succulent hollow receptacle, enclosing numerous single-seeded carpels 

 (fig. 267, p. 180), and is called a syconus (p. 316). The fruit is 

 demulcent and laxative, and is used for cataplasms. Many other 

 species of Ficus yield edible fruits. The plants belonging to the Fig 

 tribe are generally remarkable for the adventitious roots which they 

 send out from the stems. One of the most celebrated in this respect 

 is Fims indica, the Banyan (pp. 39, 360). Many of the species can 

 live suspended in the air for a long time. A specimen of Ficus aus- 

 tralis grew in this way in the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh for up- 

 wards of twenty years (p. 127). Ficii^ (Urostigma) religiosa is the 

 Pippul-tree, or sacred Fig of India. Ficus ( Urostigma) elastica is an 

 Indian tree which supplies a large quantity of caoutchouc ; so also do 

 Ficus Radula, elliptica, and prinoides. Peculiar clusters of raphides 

 are found in the cellular tissue of some of them (fig. 39, p. 11). The 

 mUky juice is not in all instances bland and innocuous ; it occasion- 

 ally has acrid qualities. Ficus Sycomorus (Sycomorus antiquorwm) is 

 probably the Sycamore of the Bible, the Cl'OpE' (shikmim) of the Old 

 Testament, and the avxo/jio^ia, of the New. The wood of the tree is said 

 to be very durable. Morus nigra supplies the common black Mulberry, 

 which is an anthocarpous fruit, composed of numerous succulent 

 flowers, forming a sorosis (fig. 571, p. 316). The Mulberry is probably 

 the ffuxd//,ms, or Sycamine-tree of the New Testament. The white 

 Mulbeny, a less esteemed fruit, is the produce of Morus alba. Both 

 flf these mulberries are sub-acid. Their leaves are the favourite food 

 flf sUkworms. The root of the white Mulberry is anthelmintic. Bm-- 



