1838.] Report on the Caoutchouc Tree of Assam, 135 



fectly straight at first, becoming conical only by divisions at the apex 

 when near the earth, and by the mutual adhesion of these divisions. 



Very generally, it would appear, this species, as well as some others, 

 vegetates in other trees ; its first processes of growth being probably simi- 

 lar to those of other arboreous dicotyledons. The roots, however in 

 obeying the laws regulating their descent, soon come into contact, and 

 wherever they do so, a mutual and firm adhesion is the result. 



A net work is soon formed round the tree ; the size of its reticulations 

 soon diminishes with the increase in the number of roots ; and at last a 

 nearly solid and excessively firm cylinder is formed, which encloses, as it 

 were in a case, the tree which originally protected the young seedling : 

 to such an extent is this carried that the death of the tree is sure to oc- 

 cur sooner or later. 



In such a case as this the fig-tree has, it may be said, no trunk at all 

 comparable to ordinary trunks, which result from growth in an ascend- 

 ing direction. In these they originate from the aggregation and cohe- 

 sion of roots, or from growth in a descending direction. One may 

 hence readily imagine how easily such trees may overtop all others, for, 

 if they vegetate on a tree 60 feet from its base, it is at once obvious that 

 this distance is an actual gain in height over all the others. Such 

 instances are perhaps the only ones in which epiphytes destroy the 

 plants on which they grow. They may indeed be denominated parasitical 

 epiphytes. As might be expected the seeds are indifferent as to the 

 species of tree on which they vegetate : it is not uncommon to find two 

 fig-trees entwined in a close embrace. 



Dr. Roxburgh was aware of this manner of growth, but he appears 

 to have only seen palmyra trees enclosed in the way I have endeavoured 

 to explain. The tendency to throw out roots is so excessive in the Ficus 

 elastica, that any section through the back of the trunk or the supports 

 of sufficient depth to reach the wooded structure, is sure to occasion their 

 appearance. These roots or radicles are distinctly continuous with the 

 outer fibres of the last formed wood, and so many are thrown out that 

 the lower extremity of a transverse section of a support not unfrequent- 

 ly assumes the appearance of a very coarse tail. The union between the 

 root commences by abrasion, and although I have not yet examined sec- 

 tions with reference to the degree of intimacy of union, I have but little 

 doubt but that each union is an instance of true and spontaneous graft- 

 ing. 



The inflorescence of this tree remains to be explained, particularly as 

 it would at first sight appear to be totally different from that of any 

 other, and because such forms unless reduced to ordinary types, confuse 

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