File:Big_Banyan_Tree_at_Bangalore.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
banyan
Sign in to saveAlso known as banyan tree
alt=The biggest tree|thumb|A banyan tree at the Naples, Florida Preserve
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- plant life-form
- Subclass of
- broad-leaved tree
- Image
- Gomero de la India, Parque Mitre, Corrientes.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- Banyans
- taxon known by this common name
- Ficus subg. Urostigma
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Etymology
- Notable species
- In horticulture
- In culture
- Religion and mythology
- Notable banyan trees
- Other
- Gallery
- See also
- References
- External links
alt=The biggest tree|thumb|A banyan tree at the Naples, Florida Preserve
A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as an epiphyte, i.e. a plant that grows on another plant, when its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. "Banyan" often specifically denotes Ficus benghalensis (the "Indian banyan"), which is the national tree of India, though the name has also been generalized to denominate all figs that share a common life cycle and used systematically in taxonomy to denominate the subgenus Urostigma.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “banyan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.