the fig-tree: A genus of the tricoccia order, belonging to the polygamia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 53rd order, Scabridae. The receptacle is common, turbinated, carious, and connivent; inclosing the florets either in the same or in a distinct one. The male calyx is tripartite; no corolla; three stamens: The female calyx is quinquapartite; no corolla; one pistil; and one seed.—There are ten species, of which the following are the most remarkable.

1. The Carica, or common Fig, with an upright stem branching 15 or 20 feet high, and garnished with large palmated or hand-shaped leaves. Of this there are a number of varieties; as the common fig, a large, oblong, dark purplish blue fruit, which ripens in August either on standards or walls, and the tree carries a great quantity of fruit.—The brown or chestnut fig; a large, globular, chestnut-coloured fruit, having a purplish delicious pulp, ripening in July and August.—The black Icchia fig; a middle-sized, shortish, flat-crowned, blackish fruit, having a bright pulp; ripening in the middle of August.—The green Icchia fig; a large, oblong, globular headed, greenish fruit, slightly stained by the pulp to a reddish-brown colour; ripens in the end of August.—The brown Icchia fig; a small, pyramidal, brownish-yellow fruit, having a purplish very rich pulp; ripening in August and September.—The Malta fig; a small flat-topped brown fruit, ripening in the middle of August or beginning of September.—The round brown Naples fig; a globular, middle-sized, light-brown fruit, and brownish pulp; ripe in the end of August.—The long, brown, Naples fig; a long dark-brown fruit, having a reddish pulp; ripe in September.—The great blue fig; a large blue fruit, having a fine red pulp.—The black Genoa fig; a large, pear-shaped, black-coloured fruit, with a bright red pulp; ripe in August.

2. The Sycamorus, or Sycamore of scripture. According to Mr Haffeguifft, this is a huge tree, the stem being often 50 feet round. The fruit is pierced in a remarkable manner by an insect. There is an opening made in the calyx near the time the fruit ripens, which is occasioned in two different ways. 1. When the fiammae, which cover the calyx, wither and are bent back; which, however, is more common to the carica than the sycamore. 2. A little below the scales, on the side of the flower-cup, there appears a spot before the fruit is ripe: the fruit in this place is affected with a gangrene which extends on every side, and frequently occupies a finger's-breadth. It withers; the place affected becomes black; the fleshy substance in the middle of the calyx, for the breadth of a quill, is corroded; and the male blossoms, which are nearest to the bare side, appear naked, opening a way for the insect, which makes several furrows in the inside of the fruit, but never touches the stigmata, though it frequently eats the germ. The wounded or gangrenous part is at first covered or shut up by the blossoms; but the hole is by degrees opened and enlarged of various sizes in the different fruits; the margin and sides being always gangrenous, black, hard, and turned inwardly. The same gangrenous appearance is also found found near the squamae, after the insect has made a hole in that place. The tree is very common in the plains and fields of Lower Egypt. It buds in the latter end of March, and the fruit ripens in the beginning of June. It is wounded or cut by the inhabitants at the time it buds; for without this precaution, they say it would not bear fruit.

3. The Religiosa, or Banyan-tree, is a native of several parts of the East Indies. It hath a woody stem, branching to a great height and vast extent, with heart-shaped entire leaves ending in acute points. Of this tree the following lines of Milton contain a description equally beautiful and just:

There soon they chose The fig tree; not that tree for fruit renown'd, But such as, at this day to Indians known In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms, Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade, High over arch'd, and echoing walks between; There oft the Indian herdman, thumping heart, Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds At loop-holes cut through thickets shade.

Par. Lost, Book ix. l.1100.

The Banyan-tree, or Indian fig, is perhaps the most beautiful of Nature's productions in that genial climate, where the spots with the greatest profusion and variety. Some of these trees are of amazing size and great extent, as they are continually increasing, and, contrary to most other things in animal and vegetable life, they seem to be exempted from decay. Every branch from the main body throws out its own roots; at first, in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground; these continually grow thicker until they reach the surface; and there striking in, they increase to large trunks, and become parent trees, shooting out new branches from the top; these in time suspend their roots, which, swelling into trunks, produce other branches; thus continuing in a state of progression as long as the earth, the first parent of them all, contributes her sustenance. The Hindoos are peculiarly fond of the Banyan-tree; they look upon it as an emblem of the Deity, from its long duration, its out-stretching arms, and overshadowing beneficence; they almost pay it divine honours, and,

"Find a pane in every sacred grove."

Near these trees the most effectual pagodas are generally erected; under their shade the Brahmins spend their lives in religious solitude; and the natives of all castes and tribes are fond of recreating in the cool recesses, beautiful walks, and lovely vistas of this umbra-guous canopy, impervious to the hottest beams of a tropical sun.

A remarkable large tree of this kind grows on an island in the river Nerbedda, ten miles from the city of Baroche in the province of Guzerat, a flourishing settlement lately in possession of the East India company, but ceded by the government of Bengal, at the treaty of peace concluded with the Mahrattas in 1783, to Mahadjee Scindia a Mahratta chief. It is distinguished by the name of Cubbeer Burr, which was given it in honour of a famous saint. It was once much larger than at present; but high floods have carried away the banks of the island where it grows, and with them such parts of the tree as had thus far extended their roots; yet what remains is about 2000 feet in circumference, measured round the principal stems; the over-hanging branches, not yet struck down, cover a much larger space. The chief trunks of this single tree (which in size greatly exceed our English elms and oaks), amount to 350; the smaller stems, forming into stronger supporters, are more than 3000; and every one of these is casting out new branches, and hanging roots, in time to form trunks, and become the parents of a future progeny. Cubbeer Burr is famed throughout Hindoostan for its great extent and surpassing beauty: the Indian armies generally encamp around it; and, at stated seasons, solemn jatarras, or Hindoo festivals, are held there, to which thousands of votaries repair from various parts of the Mogul empire. It is said that 7000 persons find ample room to repose under its shade. The English gentlemen, on their hunting and shooting parties, used to form extensive encampments, and spend weeks together under this delightful pavilion, which is generally filled with green wood pigeons, doves, peacocks, and a variety of feathered songsters; crowded with families of monkeys performing their antics tricks; and shaded by bats of a large size, many of them measuring upwards of six feet from the extremity of one wing to the other. This tree not only affords shelter, but sustenance, to all its inhabitants, being covered amid its bright foliage with small figs of a rich scarlet, on which they all regale with as much delight, as the lords of creation on their more costly fare in their parties.

Culture. The carica is the species of ficus most frequently cultivated in this country, and the only one which does not require to be kept in a house. It may be propagated either by suckers arising from the roots by layers, or by cuttings. The suckers are to be taken off as low down as possible; trim off any ragged part at bottom, leaving the tops entire, especially if for standards; and plant them in nursery-lines at two or three feet distance from each other, or they may at once be planted where they are to remain; observing, that if they are designed for walls or espaliers, they may be headed to fix or eight inches in March, the more effectually to force out lateral shoots near the bottom; but, if intended for standards, they must not be topped, but trained with a stem, not less than 15 or 18 inches for dwarf-standards, a yard for half-standards, and four, five, or six feet for full standards. Then they must be suffered to branch out to form a head; observing, that, whether against walls, espaliers, or standards, the branches or shoots must never be shortened unless to procure a necessary supply of wood: for the fruit is always produced on the upper parts of the young shoots; and if these are cut off, no fruit can be expected.—The best season for propagating these trees by layers is in autumn; but it may be also done any time from October to March or April. Choose the young pliable lower shoots from the fruitful branches: lay them in the usual way, covering the body of the layers three or four inches deep in the ground, keeping the top entire, and as upright as possible; and they will be rooted and fit to separate from the parent in autumn; when they may be planted either in the nursery, or where they are to remain, managing them as above directed. The time for propagating by cuttings is either in autumn at the fall of the leaf, or any time in March: choose well-ripened shoots of the preceding summer; short, and of robust growth, from about 12 to 15 inches long; having an inch or two of the two-year-old wood at their base, the tops left entire; and plant them fix or eight inches deep, in a bed or border of good earth, in rows two feet afar: and when planted in autumn, it will be eligible to protect their tops in time of hard frost, the first winter, with any kind of long loose litter.

That part of the history of the fig-tree, which for many ages was so enigmatical, namely, the capriciousness, as it is called, is particularly worthy of attention, not only as a singular phenomenon in itself, but as it has furnished one of the most convincing proofs of the reality of the sexes of plants. In brief it is this: The flowers of the fig-tree are situated within a pulpy receptacle, which we call the fig or fruit; of these receptacles, in the wild fig-tree, some have male flowers only, and others have male and female, both distinct, though placed in the same receptacle. In the cultivated fig, there are found to contain only female flowers; which are fecundated by means of a kind of gnat bred in the fruit of the wild fig-trees, which pierces that of the cultivated, in order to deposit its eggs within; at the same time diffusing within the receptacle the farina of the male flowers. Without this operation the fruit may ripen, but no effective seeds are produced: hence the garden fig can only be propagated by layers and cuttings, in those countries where the wild fig is not known. The process of thus ripening the fruit, in the oriental countries, is not left to nature, but is managed with great art, and different degrees of dexterity, so as to reward the skilful husbandman with a much larger increase of fruit than would otherwise be produced. A tree of the same size, which, in Provence, where capriciousness is not practised, may produce about 25 pounds of fruit, will, by that art, in the Grecian islands, bring ten times that quantity. See the article CAPRICIOUSNESS.

Uses. Figs are a considerable article in the materia medica, chiefly employed in emollient cataplasm and pectoral decoctions. The best are those which come from Turkey. Many are also brought from the south of France, where they prepare them in the following manner. The fruit is first dipped in scalding hot lye made of the ashes of the fig-tree, and then dried in the sun. Hence these figs stick to the hands, and incrust them like lixivial salts; and for the same reason they excite the stool, without griping. They are moderately nutrimental, grateful to the stomach, and easier to digest than any other of the sweet fruits. They have been said to produce lice when eaten as a common food; but this seems to be entirely without foundation. The reason of this supposition seems to be, that in the countries where they grow naturally, they make the principal food of the poor people, who are generally troubled with these vermin. The wood of the sycomore is not subject to rot; and has therefore been used for making of coffins, in which embalmed bodies were put. Mr Haffelquist affirms, that he saw in Egypt coffins made of this kind of wood, which had been preserved for 2000 years.