FRUITS. 
201 
Description. — Pods narrow, linear, about 20 cm. 
long, 7 mm. in diameter, 4 mm. thick ; apex oblique, 
with a circular scar ; base curved or bent, with a 
slightly enlarged circular scar ; externally blackish 
brown, longitudinally wrinkled, moist, glossy, fre- 
quently with numerous monoclinic prisms of vanillin; 
pericarp about 1 mm. thick ; internally dark brown, 
one-celled, with numerous seeds imbedded in a dark- 
colored liquid ; seeds anatropous, ovoid, flattened, 0'2 
to 0'3 mm. in diameter, black, finely reticulate, re- 
serve layers wanting, embryo shrunken ; odor and 
taste distinct. 
Constituents. — A colorless crystalline principle, 
vanillin from P5 to 2'5 per cent. ; fixed oil about 10 
per cent.; calcium oxalate ; ash about 5 per cent. 
FICUS (Fig-). 
The fruit of Ficus Carica (Fam. Moracese), a tree 
indigenous to Persia and cultivated in most subtropi- 
cal and temperate countries. The fruit is collected 
when ripe, partially dried in the sun, and tightly 
packed in boxes. 
Description. — Syconium, pyriform or obovoid, usu- 
ally compressed, about 6 cm. long and l - 5 cm. in 
diameter ; externally light brown, longitudinally 
veined, wrinkled, frequently with an efflorescence of 
sugar, apex with a small scaly orifice, base with a scar 
or stalk about 7 mm. long and 4 mm. thick, and also 
with a leaf-remnant ; receptacle hollow, the walls 2 to 3 
mm. thick, coriaceous, tough, the inner portion with 
numerous lanceolate divisions, upon which are borne 
numerous ovoid brownish-yellow glossy acheues about 
1 mm. in diameter, the latter with a reserve layer and a 
curved embryo ; odor distinct, fruit-like; taste sweet. 
Constituents. — Sugar 50 to 60 per cent. 
