122 Dr. Noreuven’s Account of the Banyan-Tree.
“« what is called the Indian Fig, which-every year sends out’ roots from its
“ branches, as before has been mentioned; it emits them not from the
“« young shoots, but from those of the year before, or even older ones.
“ These, coming in contact with the ground, form a sort of inclosure, in
a circle round the tree, so as to have almost the appearance of a tent (or
‘“« arbour) under which the people are also in the habit of dwelling. The
‘* roots, when produced, may be distinguished from the shoots, or young
“« branches, by being whiter: they are thick and twisted, and furnished
“« with two leaves. The tree has a great deal of foliage above, assumes’
- altogether a: well rounded form, and is of extraordinary size. For it is
‘“« said, that it throws its shade over a circumference of two stadia (or more “ than twelve hundred feet). The thickness of the stem is in some more “ than sixty paces, and in the generality forty paces. It has a leaf not “ less than a pelta, or Thracian shield, and fruit very diminutive, about “« the size of a large pea, or small bean, and resembling a fig, for which “« reason the Greeks have called it a Fig-tree ; the fruit is extremely small,
- not only in proportion to the size of the tree, but considered of itself.
« This tree grows near the river Acesines.”
The third passage, in which Theophrastus speaks of this tree, is in the work, On the Peculiarities of Plants, and their Causes, in the second book, the fourteenth chapter.* “ Those plants,” he says, ‘‘ which tend to a great! “« size, are apt to have small fruit, as, for instance, the tree called the’ “ Indian Fig. . For being of wonderful magnitude, it has, by nature, its “« fruit extremely small and insignificant, as spending all its nourishment’
- “* upon the leaves and branches; for it has very large foliage. And to the
“* same cause of superabundant nourishment seems to be attributable the
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