FILICINEAE 
379 
the caoutchouc as a cement, fastening the roots to their support 
(Darwin, Climbing Plants, p. 185). 
F. Thwaitesii Mig. and other climbing sp. are heterophyllous, the 
leaves on the climbing shoots being small and of different shape to 
those on the erect shoots. 
F. Benjamina L. and other sp. climb up other trees giving off aerial 
clasping (negatively heliotropic) roots which surround the trunk of the 
support. These roots thicken and unite into a network and finally 
often strangle the ‘ host * altogether. These sp. often become epiphytic 
by the dying away of their lower portions, but, like the Aroids they 
maintain their communication with the ground by long aerial roots. 
Sometimes they commence as epiphytes and send down aerial roots 
to the soil. 
The infl. is hollowed out, and consists of a number of firs, inside 
a pear-shaped common receptacle, which opens by a narrow mouth at 
the top. Within the mouth, in most sp., are the S firs., while the rest 
of the cavity is filled with ? firs, (see Sachs, Physiol, p. 434, and figs, 
in Nat. PJE). The S has a perianth and 1 or 2 sta., the ? a smaller 
perianth. The infl. as a whole is protogynous. The mode of 
pollination is very extraordinary (cf. Yucca), there being a special 
insect (Blastophaga, a small wasp) adapted to Ficus firs. The gravid 
female enters a fig infl. and lays eggs in the ovaries; the male wasps 
thus formed fertilise the females and these as they emerge are polli- 
nated by the S firs, and carry the pollen to new figs. For further 
details and an account of the peculiar process of * caprification,’ see 
Muller’s Fert. of Firs. p. 521, Nat. PJl., Cunningham on F. Rox - 
burghii (rev. in Bot. Ceiitr. 45, p. 344), and papers in Bot. Jahrb . 
II. 1890, p. 245. 
Many sp. bear the firs, on old parts of the stem (p. 156). The 
fruit is a multiple fruit, composed of a lot of drupes inside the common 
fleshy receptacle; that of F. Carica L. is the common fig. 
Lac (shellac, &c.) is produced on several sp. by the punctures of 
a small hemipterous insect (cf. Butea). Several sp. yield caoutchouc, 
obtained by notching the stems. The buttress-roots are used as planks 
by the natives. 
Filago Linn. Compositae (iv). 12 sp. Eur., As., Am., N. Afr.; 3 in 
Brit. 
Filices. The Ferns proper or Homosporous Leptosporangiate Fili- 
cineae (see below). 
Filicineae. One of the main divisions of Pteridophyta. They are 
characterised by well-developed leaves, with vigorous growth, often 
of large size and much branched. The stem is usually short in pro- 
portion to the leaf area, and is not much branched. The sporangia 
are borne on the leaves and are usually very numerous. 
Classificatio?i : 
A. EUSPORANGIAT AE (sporangium derived from a group 
