294 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



Western Celtis. Nettle-tree. Sugar-berry. Hack-berry. Many- 

 berry. 



stem 20-60 or 80 feet bigh. Leaves 2-4 or 5 inches long, more or less scabrous on the 

 upper surface, and somewhat hairy beneath, finalh^ coriaceous ; petioles one third or half 

 an inch in length. Sepals dull greenish-yellow, oblong-lanceolate. Stigmas densely pubes- 

 cent, long, divaricate, with the points often incurved. Drupe edible, the pulpy coat thin, 

 sweetish. 



Rich light soils : throughout the United States. Fl. May. Fr. September. 



Ohs. A widely distributed but not very abundant tree, at least in the 

 northern States, which seems to vary considerably ; a low form found 

 at the South is the C. pumila, Pursh ; a variety with thick leaves is C. 

 crassifolia, Lam. According to Michaux, the wood is but little es- 

 teemed, as it is not durable when exposed to the weather. It is said 

 however to atFord a fine charcoal. 



3. FI'CUS, Tournef. Fig. 



[Art ancient name ; of obscure derivation.] 



Receptacle pyriform or subglobose, fleshy, concealing the florets in a 

 central cavity, — the orifice at apex, close by small scales. Florets 

 numerous, very minute, pedicellate, crowded on the internal surface of 

 the receptacle, dioecious, or the upper ones staminate and the others 

 pistillate. Staminate Fl. Calyx 3-parted. Stamens 3, opposite the 

 calyx-segments ; aiithers incumbent, 2-celled. Pistillate Fl. Calyx 



5- cleft, — the tube decurrent on the pedicel. Ovary seated somewhat 

 laterally on a short stipe, 1-celled; style lateral, filiform ; stigma bifid. 

 1. F. Caki'ca, L. Leaves cordate at base, 3-5-lobed, repand-dentate, 

 lobes obtuse, scabrous above, pubescent beneath ; receptacles pyriform, 

 glabrous. 



Carian Ficus. Fig-tree. 



Fr. Le Figuier. Germ. Per Feigenbaum. S'pan. Higuera. 



stem 6 -10 or 12 feet high — a stout branching shrub, with an acrid milky juice. Leaves 



6- 9 inches long, deeply 3-lobed with 2 shorter side-lobes ; petioles 3-5 or 6 inches long, 

 with large convolute stipules at base. Receptacles axillary, turbinate or pear-shaped , about 

 an inch in diameter. , 



Cultivated. Native of Caria, in Asia. Fl. July. Fr. 



Ohs. This shrub requires the shelter of a green-house, in the middle 

 and northern States, — where is produces freely. In the southern States 

 it succeeds in the open air. The inflorescence, or position of the flow- 

 ers, of the Fig — (concealed within the body of what is commonly re- 

 garded as the fruit,) is very remarkable ; — being just the reverse of 

 that of the Strawberry, — in which the minute pistils are scattered over 

 the exterior of the enlarging succulent receptacle. In all the spcimens 

 I have examined the florets appear to be pistillate. 



4. MO 'KITS, Tournef. Mulberry. 

 [Greek, Morea, tae Mulberry.] 

 Flowers monoecious or dioecious in separate axillary catkin-like spikes. 

 Calyx 4-parted, — the segments ovate. Stamens 4. Ovary sessile, ovoid, 



