Receptacles globular.
Sessile, or neaiiy so . • . . • . • . • . • . • , ,
Shortly pedunculate.
Leaves suL-eorkiceous, narrowed to base
Leaves meuibranows.
Receptacles sparsely strigoso . . ,
Keceptdcles mimilely hibei'culate . ,
187. F. chartacca.
IRf), F. pmtpcr
l!Jü, F S'jroncufiifi.
All three kinds of floivers In the same recex)faclc {as in Uvostignia).
ilalo flowers 2- or 3-audroii8
Male floworsl-undroua . .
1!)1. /•'. nemnralia.
iy^. F. lapido^,I.
Scandcnt or Creeping Shruhs.
144. Ficus PUUILA, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 1. lOCO; Kaempf. Am. Exot 803. t. 804.—
341.— F. stipalata, Tliunb. (pi. sterilis) et F. pimila (pL i'crtilis), 'I'hunb.
FiciisS; Sieb. Syu. PL CEcon, No. 1-4; Wiq. in Lend. Joimi. Bot. vii.
439; in Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. ii. 199. iii. ¿94; in Jom-n. )3ot. Neci'l i.
243; Benth. FI. IIoug-Kong, 328; Fl. Anstr. vi 171; Maxim. Bull. Acad.
St. Petersb. xi. 34:i.—Tenorea heterophijlla^ Gasp. Rich. 81.—LHagiostigmn
stipuiata andp?im7a, Zuccarini, Abli. Bayi-. Akad. iv. 1. 154. t. 1. fig. 6—9;
Hance in Seem. Jom-n. Bot. iv. 54.—F. Ilanciana, Maxim, in Bull. Acad.
St. Petersb. xi. 341.—F. crecla, auctor. plLU\ sed non TLmib.
A scandent or creeping shnib "witli dimorphous leaves, rooting freely from the stem and
the small-leaved barren brandies. Fruiting-branches erect or spreading, not rooting; while
young fulvous-pubescent, as are also the petioles and young receptacles; leaves pctiolate,
thickly membranous, ovate or ovate-elliptic, with sub-acute, bluutish apex, entire edges, and
cordate, 7-ucrved, equal-sided base; lateral priraaiy nerves 4 to 5 pairs, prominent on the lower
and depressed on the upper surface; secondai-y nerves also prominent, and the reticulations
very strong, distinct, areolar on the under surface, which is minutely pubescent; upper surface
glabrous except the midrib and main nerves, which ai-e pubescent; lengtli of blade 2-5 to
3 ui.; petioles'4 in.; stipule.s 2 to each leaf, linear-lanceolate, fulvo-sericeous externally.
Leaves of the stem and barren branches ovate-cordate and slightly oblique at the base,
1 in. and under in length, with very short (-1 to -15 in. long} petioles. Rcceptaclos borne
only on the spreading, large-leaved branches, pedunculate, solitary, axillary, pyi-iform, with
the apex tinncate; umbonate, with rather prominent umbilicus; when full grown about
3 in. long and 1'25 in.- across, and.of a beautiful purple colour; basal bracts 3; pcduncle
thick, pubescent, -o in. long. Male flowers numerous towards the apex of the receptacles,
ver)'- large, on pediccls of varying length ¡"some of tiiem -o in. long!; perianth of 2 or 3
distinct pieces; anthers 3, naiTowly elongate, placed face to face, neai'ly sessile. Female
flowers in the same perianth with the males, barren; the perianth of 4 or 5 distinct
pieces; achene sub-globular, smooth; style lateral; stigma oblique, dilated. Fevtile female
Howcrs uuknowu.
Indigenous in Japan and China: frequently cultivated against walls and other
buikUngs in all parts of the plains of India. This species produces receptacles freely
in the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, where the rather untidy fruiting branches are allowed to
grow freely. In most other Indian gardens these fruiting-branches arc trimmed oii',
and rcceptaclos arc therefore never seen. Considerable confusion has arisen in the
nomenclature of this plant from the dimoi-phism of its leaves. Its .synonymy has been
very carefully disentangled by Maximowicz in an excellent paper in vol. xi of the
Bulletin of the St. Petersbm-g Academy, and, in treating it, I have to a great extent
followed this autlior.
Jn the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, the perianth of the male flowers consists invariably
of two pieces. Japanese specimens, however, have a 3-leavcd male perianth. In
Calcutta the receptacles produced are all of one kind, containing males which, although of
enormous size, produce no good pollen, and galls which attain but smidl size and are
never attacked by insects. Fruiting specimens from the countries where the species ii^
indigenous are not common in collections, and I have not been able to obtain manv
reccptacles from such for dissection; but the few which I have succeeded in getting all
contained 3-audi-ous male and gall flowers. I have met uo receptacle containing fertile
female flowers.
PLATE 158.—F. pumtla, Linn. A: fruiting-ljranch with a mature receptacle. B:
barren branch. 1, apex of a rcceptacle ; 2, vertical section showing an-angement of the
flowers; 3, stipules—of natural fisc; 4, group of male flowers; 5, single male flower with
the stamens separated: 6, vertical section of 2-ancbous male flower, showing the natural
position of the stamens and perianth leaves; 7, undeveloped gall flower [Uu; above are
all from specimens grown in Calcutta)-, 8, male flower, and 9, gall flower—Japanese
specimens: all enlarged.
145. FICUS TIIW.\ITESII, Miri. in Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. iii, 229, 294.-25'. disHcha,
'J'liw. (non Blume) Enum. PI. Ceylon, 266.—i^. dioersiformis, Miq. in
Lond. Jomir. Bot. vii. 441; Ann, Mus. Lugd. Bat. iii, 281, 294;
Thwaites' Knum. PI. Ceylon, 266.—J", siipulata, Moon (not of Thunbg.)
Cat. Ceylon Plants, p. 74.
A sln-ub, with slender, creeping, root-emitting stem, and stout, spreading, sub-glabrous,
non-i'ooting branches on which the receptacles are boi'ue; the stem, when young, thinly
clothed with brown, rather soft, pubescence; its leaves shortly pctiolate, sub-coriaceous,
polymorphous, from eUiptic or ovate to 3-lobod and almost hastate; the apex in all
forms obtuse, and the base emarginate or cordate, boldly 3-ncrved, and often with
2 subsidiary nerves; the under surfaces pale, with distinct, open, tesselate reticulatious,
pubescent on the mith-ib and nerves; upper surfaces adpressed-pubescent, sub-scabrid;
length of blade '5 in. to '75 in. (according to Miquel to 1'5 in.) long; petioles about -1 in. ;
stipules 2 to each leaf, ovate-acuminate, scarious, sparsely pubescent, a little longer than
tlie petiole. Leaves of the receptacle-bearing branches twice as large as those of the stem
and Its barren branches; elliptic or obovato, never lobed or hastate. Receptacles axillary
usually solitary, smooth, globular, about '35 in. in diam., contracted at the base into a thin
stalk about -1 in. long, at the junction of which with the peduncle proper arc 3 broadly
ovate basal bracts; length of peduncle proper about -5 in. Male, gall, and fertile female
Mowers mixed over all parts of the same receptacle; the perianths of all of 2 or 3 short
broad, obovate, loosely-attached pieces. Male flowers with 2 anthers which nmch exceed the