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A genus of trees or shrubs, one species of which (F. Carica) produces the figs of commerce; the fig tree.

A tree of the same genus as the common fig, and called the Indian fig (Ficus Indica), whose branches send shoots to the ground, which take root and become additional trunks, until it may be the tree covers some acres of ground and is able to shelter thousands of men.

ved the heavenly light and so to have become Buddha. The sacred bo tree of the Buddhists (Ficus religiosa), which is planted close to every temple, and attracts almost as much veneration as the status of the god himself. . . . It differs from the banyan (Ficus Indica) by sending down no roots from its branches. Tennent…

A marine fish (Thaleichthys Pacificus), allied to the smelt, found on the north Pacific coast; -- called also eulachon. It is so oily that, when dried, it may be used as a candle, by drawing a wick through it.

The Egyptian sycamore (Ficus Sycamorus). See Sycamore.

A small fruit tree (Ficus Carica) with large leaves, known from the remotest antiquity. It was probably native from Syria westward to the Canary Islands.

-- India-rubber tree (Bot.), any tree yielding caoutchouc, but especially the East Indian Ficus elastica, often cultivated for its large, shining, elliptical leaves.

A sacred tree (Ficus religiosa) of the Buddhists, a kind of fig tree which attains great size and venerable age. See Bo tree. [Written also pippul tree, and pipal tree.]

d West are many others, and in tropical America more than a hundred more. O. vulgaris, O. Ficus-Indica, and O. Tuna are abundantly introduced in the Mediterranean region, and O. Dillenii has become common in India. -- Prickly pole (Bot.), a West Indian palm (Bactris Plumierana), the slender trunk of which bears many r…

A large tree (Ficus Sycomorus) allied to the common fig. It is found in Egypt and Syria, and is the sycamore, or sycamine, of Scripture.