Spec. Plant. Willd. iv. 1131.

Cl. 23. Ord. 2. Polygamia Dioecia. Nat. ord. Urticaceae.

G. 1931. Common receptacle turbinate, fleshy, converging, concealing the florets, either in the same or a distant individual. Male. Calyx three-parted. Corolla 0. Stamens three. Female. Calyx five-parted. Corolla 0. Pistil one. Seeds covered by a permanent, closed, somewhat fleshy calyx.

1 Compendio di Mat. Med. p. 41. Pavia,1817.

It is used as a condiment in Persia; and by the Brahmins in India. 3 Edin. Med. Journ. ii. 304.

* Leaves lobed.

Species 1. F. Carica.* The Fig-tree, Med. Bot. 3d ed. 714. t. 244.

Officinal. Fici, Lond. Fici Caricae Fructus, Edin. Fructus

Siccatus, Dub. The preserved fruit of the Fig.

Syn. Figue (F.), Feigen (G.), Vyge (Dutch), Figen (Dan.), Fiken (Swed.) Fico (I.)> Higo (S.), Simie Attil pullum (Tarn.), Unjeer (Pers.), El Kerraos (A.).

The fig tree is a native of Asia, but was introduced into Europe in the early ages. It flourishes in France, Spain, and Italy, and even sometimes ripens its fruit in England.2 It flowers in June and July. It seldom rises above twelve feet in height, but sends off many spreading branches : and the trunk, which exudes a milky odorous fluid when wounded, is covered with an ash-coloured bark, and seldom exceeds seven inches in diameter. The leaves which are annual in Europe, but perennial between the tropics, are large, nearly a span in length, scabrous, and irregularly divided into three or five lobes : of a deep green colour on the upper surface, with a pale green longitudinal vein to each lobe; but on the under surface the whole is pale green, with the veins raised, reticulated, and downy: they are supported on round petioles. The fruit in its early stage serves as a common receptacle, and contains upon its inner surface both the male and female florets. It is turbinate, umbilicate at the top, in colour varied green and red, fleshy, soft, and hollow within.3

The fig tree was very much cultivated by the ancients, who brought the fruit to perfection by a process which they termed caprification. They had observed that those figs which were perforated by an insect, the Cynips Psenes of Linnaeus, always ripened better; and therefore they tied a wild fig, on which this insect breeds, near the young cultivated figs, so as to cause the insects, when they issued from the wild fig, also to perforate them. The good effects arose from the crawling of the larvae within the figs, scattering the pollen, and thus forwarding the impregnation of the female florets. Thus the gardeners of Aleppo, ignorant of the cause of the benefit derived from the Cynips, imitate the process by pricking the figs with a needle dipped in oil, in order to procure early figs. The fruit when ripe is dried in ovens, to preserve it, and to destroy any of the larvae of the Cynips that may remain; and then packed very closely in the small chests in which they are imported into this country.1

1 ∑Uknof the Greeks, who termed the fruit ∑Uka.

2 The first fig-trees introduced into England are still in the Archbishop's garden at Lambeth. They are supposed to have been planted by Cardinal Pole, and now bear excellent fruit. In the neighbourhood of Worthing, and some other places, figs are ripened in the open air, on standard trees.

3 Gartner de Fructibus, ii. 66. t. 91.

Qualities.-Dried figs have a sweet, peculiar taste. They are generally compressed: the cuticle is of a brownish colour, and crusted over with crystals of sugar; and within are numerous small yellow lenticular seeds, in a sweet viscid pulp. They consist almost entirely of mucilage and sugar.

Medical properties and uses.-The dietetical use of figs is well known.2 When eaten freely, they are apt to occasion flatulent colic and diarrhoea. They are used medicinally, in demulcent decoctions, in pulmonary and other inflammatory complaints; and two ounces of them boiled in six fluid ounces of water, and strained, form a useful gargle in cynanche tonsillaris, when suppuration takes place. The figs themselves, roasted or boiled and split, form excellent cataplasms, when applied very hot to gum boils, buboes, and other phlegmons.3

Officinal preparations. - Decoctum Hordei compositum, L. D. Confectio Sennae, L. D. Electuarium Sennae compositum, E.