3 
SHORT LEAVED FIG-TREE. 
FICUS brevifolia, foliis cordato-ovatis integerrimis obtu- 
sis abbreviatis brevi petiolatis glabris, venis immersis, re- 
ceptaculis globosis depressis umbilicatis solitariis brevi 
pedunculatis, involucellis bifidis. 
This is also a species of arborescent Fig, indigenous 
to Key West, in East Florida, but by no means com- 
mon, and, according to Dr. Blodgett, its discoverer, it 
forms a tree with a slender, almost horizontal stem, 
which in its progress throws off funicular roots that 
serve as props to prevent the main trunk from becom- 
ing entirely prostrate. 
The branches are covered with a light grey bark. 
The leaves are about 2 inches long by 1? inches wide, 
perfectly smooth on both surfaces, on petioles from \ to 
f of an inch long. The veins on the under surface are 
so far immersed as to be scarcely visible. The figs, 
about the size of small cherries, are of a flattened, 
spheroidal form, at first, as well as the bifid involucrum, 
slenderly villous; they grow out chiefly at the extremi- 
ties of the twigs, on thick pedicels, about 2 or 3 lines 
long, and when ripe are of a brightish purple red. We 
do not find any species with which the present agrees. 
From the description and specific name, we should 
suppose the present species allied to the F. padifolia of 
Humboldt and Bonpland, but it differs too much to be 
referred to that species. 
Plate XLII. 
A branch of the natural size. 
