39. FICUS EOWELLIANA, IIOV. SpSC.
A strong climber when adult; all pai-ts except the receptacles qnito glabrous; leaves
petiolate, coriaceous, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, with entire, cartilaginous, slightly revolute
edges ; base rounded, faintly 5-nerved; both suj-faces shining, upper surface pale (when diy);
lateral nerves about 6 paii-s, not prominent, reticulations indistinct on both surfaces;
length of blade 4 to 6 in. ; petioles thick, succulent, -5 in. long; stipules • • • • -
receptacles short-pedunculate (axillary ?), sli^tly obovate or globose-umbonato, slightly
pubescent; when ripe almost black (when yomig of a sepia colour with pale gi-ey spots,—
(fide Forbes), rather more than 1 in. across; peduncles '6 in. long with 3 minute bracts
about the middle; male flowers mixed with the gall flowers all over the inner surface of
the receptacles, monandrous, the anther cui'ved, the filament adnate; perianth of 2 to 3
short pieces; gall flowers sub-sessile, the perianth of 3 to 4 linear leaves, the ovary
obovate or pyriform, with a short thick sub-terminal style; fertile female flowers not seen,
Eastern Sumatra, at 2,000 f t . ,—if. 0. Forbes {Berh. 3026).
This very distinct species has been collected only once, and the material is rather
scanty. Mr. Forbes describes it as a gigantic climber. None of the specimens collcctcd
b y Mr. Forbes have receptacles bearing fertile female flowers; the receptacles collected are all
filled with male and gall flowers. I have named this species in honour of my friend
Dr. Irvine Rowell, Surgeon-General to the Government of the Straits Settlements.
PLATE 43A.—F. Rowelliana, King. 1 & 2, reccptacles—of natural size ; 3, male flower ;
4, gall flower : enlarged.
40. Ficus MICROSTOMA, Wall. Cat. 4566.
A tree, with all its parts glabrous; leaves coriaceous, petiolate, ovate-elHptic to obovateelliptic,
the apices shortly, abruptly and bluntly cuspidate, or occasionally rounded, blunt, and
non-cuspidate, the edges entire; base narrowed, 3-nerved; primary lateral nerves 4 to 7
paii-s, rather prominent beneath; length of blade 3 in. to 6'5 in. ; petioles -5 in. to 1-25 in.,
rather slender; stipules -5 in. long; receptacles sessile, in pairs, axillaiy, pisifoi-m, dotted,
glabrous, prominently umbonate; the apex perforated; basal bracts 3, broadly ovate,
f r e e ; male flowers scattered over all parts of receptacle, pedicillate, the perianth of 2
broad concave pieces; anther 1, elongate; gall flowers with ovoid ovary and hooked
stigma, the perianth, as in the fertile female, of 4 lanceolate pieces; fertile females with
broadly ovate achene, the style not hooked.
Southern part of the Malayan Peninsula,—^FuJ^icA, Kunstler.
The scales, which usually overlap so as to close the apex of tlie receptacle in the genus
Ficus, are in tliis species partially united to form a kind of annulus, in the centre of which
there is a comparatively wide opening leading into the interior of the receptacle. While the
receptacle is unripe, tliis annulus is of a bright yellow colour and is very conspicuous.
{Zoll. Syst. Vers. 96, and in Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. Hi. 285j considers tliis to
be very near the plant issued b y Zollinger as No. 753 of his Herbarium, to which Miquel gives
the name Urost. m-ino]c, and to manok he reduces microstoma, Wall. But a comparison of
ZoU.'s No. 753 with the specimens issued by Wallich as F. microstoma convinces me that
F. microstoma. Wall, is not only quite different from Zoll.'s No. 753, but that it is very
distinct from any hitherto described species. F. manok, Miq. (Zoll. No. 753) appeai-s to me
UEOSTIGMA. 39
to be the same as F. glohosa, BL, and to that species I reduce it. On the Linnsean Society's
sheet of Wall. Cat. 4566 there are glued down tlu-ee leaves of F. onvsta, Wall, (which
= F. glohosa, BL), the other leaves and the receptacles belonging to true mierostoina; and
no doubt it is tliis confusion which misled Miquel. On the Calcutta Herbai-ium sheet of
Wall's 4506 there is no such mixture, the whole bemg true microstoma, Wall.
PLATE 44.—Fruiting-branch of microstoma, Wall. Separate figures of a stipule and
of base and apex of a receptacle : all of natural sise.
PLATE 83".—1, unexpanded male flower ; 2, anther, the periantli being removed ; 3, gall
flower ; 4, fertile female: all enlarged.
41. FICUS INDICA, Linn. Sp. Plant, ed. 2. pi- ^514 (M part) ; Miq. Ann.
Mus. Lugd. Bat. iii. 287 {excl. many of the synonyms) ; Kurz For. Flora
Brif^.Burm.mii'i.—F.sundiaca,'Q\.B\]d.. Urost. sunaiacum, Miq.
FI. Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2. 339 (in part).—Jl rubeseens, Bl. Bijd. 453.—
Vrost. ruhescms, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2. m.-Urost. ^lela, Miq.
(notEoxb.) Lond. Joui-n. Bot. vi. 580 (excl. syn.); Fl. Ind. Bat. i.
pt. 2. 344 (excl. all synonyms except Urost. sundiacum, Urost. tjiela,
Miq., FAR. sundiaca, Miq. PI. Jungh. 5Q.—F. pellucido-punctata, GriS.
Notulje iv. 394. t. 554. i ; Herb. Griff. 4636, Kew Distrib.-i". longifoUa,
Ham. in Wall. Gat. 4570, 0, D, and E in pai - t . - Varinga latifolia, Rumph.
Herb. Amb. iii. 134. t. 84; also probably J", psmdo-mhra, Miq. in Ann.
Mus. Lugd. Bat. iii. 287.— Urost. pseudo-ruhra, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2.
343 (partly).
A large spreading tree, glabrous in all its pai-ts except the stipules ; leaves coriaceous,
shortly petiolate, from broadly to narrowly oblong, apex acute or shortly caudate-acuminate,
edges entii-e, base nai-rowed, with 2 prominent and 2 small (occasionally obsolete) basal
nerves; lateral primary nerves about 4 to 6 paii-s, not very prominent, reticulations distinct;
both surfaces (but especially the upper) minutely tuberculate; length o£ blade 4 to 7 in.,
and of petiole-3 to 1 in. ; stipules ovate-lanceolate, pubescent externally, -5 to Tin. long;
receptacles crowded, in pairs, sessile, from axils of leaves or of fallen leaves, globular
(ovoid or elhpsoid in var. Gelderi), smooth, yellowish-red when ripe and about -35 in.
across; basal bracts 3, rather large, ovate-acute, spreading ; male flowers numerous, scattered,
on long thin pedicels, the perianth of about 2 concave pieces, the anther elongate,
elliptic,° sessile ; gall and fertile female flowers alike, except as regards the contents
of the ovaiy, ovary ovoid or elliptic, with a long lateral style and obKque infundibuliform
stigma; ripe fertile achene tuberculate and viscid; gall flowers sometimes pedicillate.
° Assam and Burmah, rare: common in the Malayan peninsula and Archipelago, also in
the Philippines.
VAR. GELDERI.-JF. Gelderi, Miq. in Ann. Mus, Lugd. Bat, iii. 216, 287.
Receptacles ovoid or ellipsoid, not globose.
Malayan Peninsula and Arcliipelago.
Linnceus quoted for Iiis Ficus Indica so many plants—Indian, African, and American—
that it is impossible to tcl exactly what he ii^tended to be considered as the type of this
species. The name Indica has been by subsequent authors attached for the most part to the
plant above described, becaiise they believed it to be the plant intended to be portrayed in
Rumphius's figui-e {Herb. Ami. iii. t. 84)—a figure which Linnaus did indeed quote under