Big Banyan Tree

It’s time for Sunday Trees -243

Botanics4
The Great Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) at Botanic Garden, Howrah, near Kolkata, India

Believe it or not, that is not a forest but a single tree. One that is more than 250 years old. The area occupied by the tree is about 18,918 square meters (about 1.5 hectares or 4 acres). The present crown of the tree has a circumference of 486 m. and the highest branch rises to 24.5 m. Interestingly, the tree survives without its main trunk, which decayed and had to be removed in 1925.

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View from inside/under the tree

Instead, it has a large number of aerial roots, which grow from the branches and run vertically to the ground and looks like it has so many trunks. It is estimated that at present it has 3772 aerial roots reaching down to the ground as a prop root. Fascinating isn’t it?

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Dahlia

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