ON SEVERAL SPECIES OF FICUS, INCLUDING THE COMMON FIG. 105 
ON SEVERAL SPECIES OF FICUS, INCLUDING THE FICUS CARICA, 
OR COMMON FIG. 
The genus Ficus contains several very interesting subjects, and the fruit of one is of much 
importance as an article of commerce. The sap of the whole genus is milky, with more or 
less of acridity, and contains in some species a large proportion of caoutchouc. Amongst 
those which bear eatable fruit may be mentioned Ficus Carica, or the Common Fig ; Ficus 
Sycomorus, or Egyptian Sycomore ; Ficus religiosa, or Pagoda-tree ; Ficus pumila, 
F. benghalensis, F. aspera, F. auriculata , F. PamiphU, F. Benjamina, and F. Granatum. 
Ficus elastica, or Caoutchouc Fig, is a strong-growing tree, with large leathery leaves ; 
the sap contains a considerable portion of caoutchouc, and the chief supply of this article 
brought into Europe from the continent of India is obtained from this plant. 
Ficus indica, or Banyan-tree, was introduced to this country so long ago as 1690, and 
has always been treated as a stove plant ; it grows strongly, and becomes in its native 
country a very large and spreading tree ; some of the specimens in the neighbourhood of 
Calcutta are of great age, and of an immense size, and excellently adapted for the conve- 
nience and comfort of the inhabitants in that warm climate, who spend much of their time 
in the open air, even in their various occupations ; weavers, tailors, and other tradesmen, 
may be seen under the shade of these wide-spreading trees, following their usual 
occupations. The lower branches of this species of Fig are extended laterally to a great 
distance from the bole, and produce abundance of roots, which, descending, fix themselves 
in the ground, and become in their turn stems, and as the side branches are more 
lengthened out than the central ones rise in height, the tree at half-a-mile distance appears 
like a depressed cone, and the stranger could scarcely believe the regular ranks of 
stems before him were merely parts of a single tree, until he arrived beneath it and 
witnessed its complication of stems and branches, placed in ranks of concentric circles 
around the main stem. One of these trees, 200 years old, is reported to have been so 
dwarfed by the Chinese as to only rise 2 feet in height. 
Ficus religiosa , or Pagoda Fig, bears an eatable fruit, although the tree is chiefly 
esteemed for the use made of its timber in the manufacture of idols. It forms a large tree, 
without any disposition to emit roots from its branches like the last. The leaves are like 
those of the poplar. 
Ficus repens, a native of the East Indies, forms one of the best creepers, planted in 
rockwork, in a stove. In the large conservatory at Chatsworth it is found to spread with 
great rapidity, and is an excellent covering for what would otherwise appear a mass of cold, 
naked stones ; it adheres to them without difficulty, and is very ornamental. 
Ficus Sycomorus , or the Sycomore Tree of the Ancients. — This species of Fig grows 
abundantly in Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and the neighbouring countries, on which account 
the tree has been named by some travellers and writers, Ficus cegyptiaca, or Egyptian Fig. 
In ancient history, however, both sacred and profane, it is called the “ Sycomore,” a name 
derived from sycos, a fig-tree, and morus , a mulberry, from the circumstance of the leaves 
and general growth the of the plant resembling the mulberry, but the fruit being a true fig. 
The fruit of this species is esteemed next in value to the Common Fig, F. carica , but 
both in flavour and richness it is very inferior ; for the milky juice is of so acrid a nature, 
that, if the fruit be eaten in an unripe state, it is very liable to excoriate the mouth ; and 
even when ripened in the ordinary way, they do not entirely lose the acridity, and are 
considered only fit for the food of pigs. For the purpose of rendering them wholesome, 
they undergo caprification, by which operation the acrid milk is converted into sugar. 
Pliny, and other writers, mention this operation as being performed by injuring the point 
of each fruit, either by cutting off a piece of the end, or running an instrument into it, 
and by this means producing a wound. Amos, the prophet, was a gatherer of this fruit, as 
we see in Amos vii. 14; and that the trees grow to a considerable size in Judea is evident, 
VOL. i. — no. iv. p 
