Indian banyan

Banyan
The Great Banyan in Howrah, Kolkata
Banyan figs at Indira Gandhi Zoo Park, Visakhapatnam
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Moraceae
Genus:	Ficus
Subgenus:	F. subg. Urostigma
Species:	F. benghalensis
Binomial name
Ficus benghalensis L. 1753
Synonyms
Ficus banyana Oken Ficus benghalensis var. krishnae (C. D. C.) Corner Ficus chauvieri G. Nicholson Ficus cotoneifolia Vahl Ficus cotonifolia Stokes Ficus crassinervia Kunth & C. D. Bouché Ficus karet Baill. Ficus krishnae C. D. C. Ficus lancifolia Moench Ficus lasiophylla Link Ficus procera Salisb. Ficus pubescens B. Heyne ex Roth Ficus umbrosa Salisb. Perula benghalensis Raf. Urostigma benghalense (L.) Gasp. Urostigma crassirameum Miq. Urostigma procerum Miq. Urostigma pseudorubrum Miq. Urostigma rubescens Miq. Urostigma sundaicum Miq. Urostigma tjiela Miq.

Ficus benghalensis, commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It also known as the "strangler fig" because it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.

Description

Nature printed leaves, showing shape and venation

Ficus benghalensis is an evergreen , fast-growing tree found mainly in monsoon and rainforests, that can reach a height of up to 30 meters. It is resistant to drought and mild frost. It produces propagating roots which grow downwards as aerial roots on the branches that grow downward like lianas. Once these roots reach the ground, they take root and become woody trunks and supportive.

The figs produced by the tree are eaten by birds such as the Indian myna. Fig seeds that pass through the digestive system of birds are more likely to germinate and sprout earlier.

Reproduction

Banyan trees reproduce easily by seed or by stake, and they often spread from the original place by means of aerial roots that anchor in the ground and begin to grow and thicken to the point that they "become independent" from the original trunk, thus managing to "emigrate" sometimes at great distances. The figs are eaten by all kinds of frugivorous birds such as the coppersmith barbet and the common myna. Seeds that have passed through the digestive system of birds are more likely to germinate and grow faster.

Banyan seeds can fall and grow near a tree, sometimes from the very tree from which they come, and they also usually bear fruit in a hollow in a trunk or in a wall or rock. Gradually they begin to grow as they have plenty of support as epiphytes on any object they can use to climb in search of sunlight. Under normal conditions, the tree grows until it reaches a level where it gets the most sunlight, so its height can vary considerably. For this reason, where this tree predominates in a place, rather than growing in height, they spread on the surface, looking for the gaps that are left without vegetation. In general, the crown of this tree extends over a diameter well above its height.

Cultural significance

Ficus benghalensis is the national tree of India.

The tree is considered sacred in India, and temples are often built nearby. Due to the large size of the tree's canopy, it provides useful shade in hot climates.

In Theravada Buddhism, this tree is said to have been used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by the twenty fourth buddha called "Kassapa - කස්සප". The sacred plant is known as "Nuga - නුග" or "Maha nuga - මහ නුග" in Sri Lanka.

It is the tree under which Lord Adhinath the first Jain Tirthankara attained Kewal Gyan or spiritual enlightenment.

It is the National tree, and is beloved by many Indians and is a sacred tree in many Indian reservations. The Banyan tree is also known as the tree of life, and is a symbol of fertility and life. In the past, people worshipped gods and goddesses under the banyan tree. Hindu women who want children worship the banyan tree, and married women pray for their husbands and sons to live long lives by offering gifts to the tree. Vata is banyan tree in Sanskrit. In Cambodia where Hindu culture was established by two saints called Agastya and Kaundinya, the same worship was followed. When big stone temples were built in those places, they were still called Vat giving the name Angkor Vat. Because of carelessness and the civil war, huge banyan trees have covered the temple walls now. The latest discovery of a huge banyan tree in Fategarh District of Punjab (India) surprised all nature lovers when they came to know its dimensions. The tree is in a village called Choti Kalan and the tree is called Kaya Kalpa Vriksha. It occupies four acres. A temple and a rest house have been constructed under the tree. The Punjab Government has taken steps to preserve it as a bio diversity area. Though private lands surround the tree, people believe that stopping the growth of the tree will bring bad luck. The people are so scared they don’t even collect the fallen twigs for fire wood. It is beloved by many Bangladeshis and is a sacred tree in many Bangladeshi reservations. Respect national botanic life. In Ramna Park, people gather under a Banyan tree to celebrate the Bengali New Year with a ceremony led by Chhayanaut artists. The ceremony includes the song "Esho, hey Boishakh, esho esho" by Rabindranath Tagore. Many Muslims respect banyan trees because they were planted around the sitting areas of Sufi saints by converts. Muslims may burn oil lamps under old banyan trees, especially on Thursday evenings. Adam and Eve were to cover their private parts with these Banyan Leaves after falling from the Garden of Eden respectively. In 1857, hundreds of people were hanged from banyan trees in what is now Bahadur Shah Park in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

• Buddhism

Banyan trees are a holy figs in SE Bangladeshi Buddhists, and it is known as the Bodhi tree, or tree of enlightenment, where Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha.

• Hinduism

Banyan trees are a symbol of life and fertility, and is also known as the Kalpavriksha, or tree that grants wishes. Hindu women worship the banyan tree to have children, and married women make offerings to the tree for their husbands and sons to have long lives.

Notable specimens

For a more complete list, see List of Banyan trees in India.

The giant banyans of India are the largest trees in the world by area of canopy coverage. Notable trees include:

• Thimmamma Marrimanu
• Kabirvad
• The Great Banyan

The largest known specimen of tree in the world in terms of the two dimensional area covered by its canopy is Thimmamma Marrimanu in Andhra Pradesh, India, which covers 19,107 square metres (205,670 sq ft). This tree is also the largest known specimen of tree in the world in terms of the length of its perimeter, which measures 846 metres (2,776 ft).

Nearchus, an admiral of Alexander the Great, described a large specimen on the banks of the Narmada River in contemporary Bharuch, Gujarat, India; he may have described the specimen presently named "Kabirvad". The canopy of the specimen which Nearchus described was so extensive that it sheltered 7,000 men. James Forbes later described it in his Oriental Memoirs (1813-5) as almost 610 m (2,000 ft) in circumference and having more than 3,000 trunks. Currently the area of its canopy is 17,520 square metres (188,600 sq ft) with a perimeter of 641 metres (2,103 ft).

Other notable Indian specimens include The Great Banyan in the Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanic Garden in Shibpur, Howrah, which has a canopy area of 18,918 square metres (203,630 sq ft) and is about 250 years old, and Dodda Aladha Mara in Kettohalli, Karnataka, which has a canopy area of 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) and is about 400 years old.

Gallery

• 
  Ripe fruits of Indian banyan. Suhrawardy Udyan , Dhaka
• 
  In front of the Edison museum in Fort Myers, Florida, US
• 
  Ficus tree in front of Sarkaradevi Temple, Chirayinkeezhu, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

External links

• Media related to [[commons:|]] at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Indian banyan at Wikispecies
• Bar or Bargad Ficus benghalensis L., Horticulture, Purdue University
• Ficus benghalensis in Himalayas, Nepal. Himalayas (Himalaya): photos, images, pictures
• http://www.phytopharmajournal.com/V1issue2.6.pdf
• http://rjpponline.org/HTMLPaper.aspx?Journal=Research%20Journal%20of%20Pharmacognosy%20and%20Phytochemistry;PID=2014-6-3-9

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