Banyan: tree-grove and symbol of India

Nature with its products amazed and will hit humanity. Among the plant wonders, one of the most amazing is the banyan tree (photo below), which is visually perceived as a whole forest.

Types of banyan

This huge plant belongs to the ficus and is a distant relative of the most common room flower. There are two varieties of it:

• Bengal banyan: a tree-epiphyte, at the beginning of development attached to another plant. Seeds fall on the tree-carrier with the help of birds. Rostock produces a huge number of air roots. The vast majority of them wither, not growing to the ground. However, those who managed to reach it, become regular trunks. At the same time, the crown also expands. It is this species that is most often referred to as the banyan.
• A tree of the second kind is called Ficus religiosa. This plant is not an epiphyte . It also grows the air roots, which rest against the ground and support the huge crown. This banyan grow and lovers of indoor gardening. At home, its height does not exceed a meter or two. From such a "ficus" is simply a wonderful bonsai.

Both species are widely distributed in India and are remarkable, in addition to their original appearance, the production (with the help of chervets) shellac - a very valuable resin. In addition to India, individual specimens of banyan grow in Indonesia and China.

Why is it so called

The well-known name "banyan" tree was obtained from the English with the Portuguese. The aliens noted the love of Indian merchants - banias - to rest under the branches of a huge ficus and nicknamed him the tree of traders (in English banias tree). Over time, the tree was lost, and only the "banyan" remained. Now this name is known to much more people than the official "Ficus Bengali".

Sacred meaning of a plant

Wood-forest banyan is revered and respected by both Buddhists and Hindus. The first believe that it was under him that the Buddha gained enlightenment. In Hinduism, he is the tree of Brahma and the symbol of immortality, eternal life and rebirth. Descending to earth with roots, he ascends to the sky - and so continuously, in a circle, like the wheel of Samsara. For women, banyan symbolizes fertility; In ancient writings it is referred to as a world tree. Some sources refer to it as a tree of knowledge, so it is quite possible that under the same lived Adam and Eve before the fall. At one time wise people came to him for meditations and thoughts about the eternal. In addition, banyan is a tree-symbol of India.

Note that in some tourist places in India, attempts have been made to "cultivate" banyan groves. Near to them small temples and chapels are put, under crowns shops and paths are equipped. However, for the most part, such experiments lead to trouble for the tree itself, since people do not treat it with care. There are cases when, due to their barbarism, a part of the tree-grove is perishing. The Great Banyan even patrols a kind of ecological police, which protects him from tourists.

The biggest banyan

What tree to consider a champion, argue Bangalore, Sri Lanka and Calcutta. On the one hand, the Sri Lankan plant has already grown to 350 basic, hardened and become thick trunks. And there are more than three thousand small ones. On the other hand, the Great Banyan in Calcutta has an age of 200-250 years, the height of its crown in certain places reaches 25 meters, and the area of a tree-grove is almost one and a half hectares. However, in the year 25 of the last century lightning entered the Great Banyan. Its main trunk was split, and it had to be cut off. So this copy has not been considered a single tree since then, it is now recognized as a clonal colony.

At the resort of Goa, the banyan tree has not reached such stunning dimensions, but it is enough to impress tourists. Moreover, it is here, in Arambol, that the legendary banyan grows - a tree under which supposedly once meditated with the help of cannabis "Beatles". And although experts of the group have several times refuted this myth (in India, "Beatles" lived in Rishikesh), tourists from all over the world still stubbornly believe in the legend. So the fans of the group, when they come to Goa, certainly visit the treasured tree - take pictures, think of high and mentally merge with their idols.