118 On the Genus Ficus. 



cultivated ones. When the insects escape from the former, 

 they enter the latter by the orifice at the apex, and so, by 

 carrying the pollen grains upon their wings or otherwise, 

 fertilize the female flowers. This system, however, is not so 

 generally adopted as formerly, as it is now considered to injure 

 the quality of the figs. It appears to have been clearly under- 

 stood and practised by the ancients, as it is fully described by 

 Theophrastus and Pliny. The introduction of the fig into this 

 country is by some writers attributed to the Romans, and by 

 others not till the early part of the 16th century, on the return 

 of Cardinal Pole from Italy. The very trees which he brought, 

 and which were planted in the garden of Lambeth Palace, are 

 said to have flourished for 800 years. There is, or at least was 

 until very recently, several fine examples of very old fig-trees 

 in the kingdom, some of them of very great diameter, proving 

 that even in our climate the fig is capable of thriving, though 

 a severe frost is liable to do it great injury. The south 

 coast of England, however, appears to agree with it, and 

 standard trees have been known to produce fruit in tolerable 

 abundance. 



There is yet another species of this interesting genus 

 which we must just notice before taking leave of it, and this 

 is the sycamine or sycamore fig (F. Sycomorus, L.). This is 

 supposed by some to be identical with the tree into which 

 Zaccheus climbed. If this is so, and the tree is to be identified 

 with that mentioned in many passages of Scripture, it must 

 have been of great importance among the Jews, though the 

 fruit is small, and hardly worth eating compared with that of 

 the common fig. The light wood of this plant is said to be 

 almost imperishable, and served to make the cases of the 

 Egyptian mummies. The genus includes about 200 species, 

 but the few we have described are the most important in an 

 economic point of view, the most peculiar, and the types of 

 the genus generally. 



