FICUS, Lk».
Flowers nnisexnol (staminiforous, pistilifcrous, or gall), or pseudo-liermaplirodite, mrely
asexual, collected in yarious ways on more or less globose OToid or pj r i form concave receptaolcs
which are closed at the apex by muncrous Ijracteoles. JXale flowers witli ] 2 or rarelv 3
exserted or included ovate or oblong stamens, withont rudimentary pistil (eicept in PalammriiU),
the perianth of 2 to 6 distinct pieces, or gamophyllous and 2. to B-par-tite, or absent. Fertile
female flowers with a single pistil and ivithout rudimentary stamens, the ovary 1-cellod with
1 pendulous ovule, the style more or lass lateral, longer than the ovary and surmouirted by
the clavate cylincWc peltate or bifid stigma, the perianth of 2 to 6 distinct pieces, or
gamophyllous 2- to 6-partite, or absent; aclicnes more or less obovoid or remform, rarely
globular, with a minutely tuberculato or undulate hard pericarp, often with a glairy or
mucilaginous outer coat; the seed pendulous, with small albumen, the embryo more or less
cm-ved. fiall flowers similar to the fertile females, but not containing embryos, and often
occupied by the pupa of a species of Blastnphmja or other Hymenopterons insect • the ovary
ovoid or globular, its pericarp thin and membranous, or thick, brittle, and ci-ustaceous'-
•the style shorter than in the fertile female, often dilated above into a more or less ti-umpctshaped
false stigma. Neuter flowers (occurring only in section Synmcia) pedicillato with
perianth like the mata, asexual Male, gall and fertile female flowers collected on the same
receptacle; or males and galls ou a distinct set of receptacles, fertile females and neuters on
another set: or males and galls on one sot of receptacles and fertile females on a distinct set •
flowers often mixed with scales or hairs. Heceptaelos usually homo- rarely di-morphous'
closed at tne mouth by numerous sealos arranged ii, rows, the uppermost of which often partly
project extcrnolly and form an umbilicus; the base rounded or narrowed and usually
subtended by three bracts, sessile or pedunculate, in pairs in the axils of the leaves or of the
scars of fallen loaves, solitary by abortion, or in fascicles from tuborcles (shortened branclilcts)
ir<»n the mam branches or stem, .,r on long subaphyllous branches proceeding from the
stem near its base. Trees or shrubs with milky juice; leaves alternate, rarely opposite,
stipulate entn-e, serrate, dentate, orlobed; smooth, hairy, or scabrid ; the leaf-buds sometime,
covered by deciduous leaf-scales.
CONSPECTUS OF THE SECTIONS OP THE GENUS.
I. Pa/iSomorp/ie.-Mah flowers with 1 stamen and a rudimentai-y pistil occupying the