116 



DICOTYLEDONS 



there is formed a large hall of columns, in the shade of which 

 there is sufficient space for a village. This power of forming 

 roots in the air also explains a strange thing, viz., B^myan trees 

 growing on other trees and strangling them. They are not para- 

 sitic like the Loranthus on Mango trees, for they do not strike 

 their roots into the tissue of the tree to prey on its juice. What 

 happens is this: hirds may drop a seed of the Banyan tree on 

 another tree, where it hegius to grow as an epiphytic* plant. 

 It forms root after root. These descend the stem of the tree to 



Fi^- 108.— The Banyan tree {Ficns bengalensis). 



the ground, Ijecome stronger and stronger, and hually hug it to 

 death. In fact, generally speaking, the lianyan leads an epiphytic 

 life in its youth, and becomes a terrestrial plant only after some 

 years. 



2. The large, elliptic Leaves of the Banyan tree are downy 

 beneath, shining above, and covered with ;i very tliiik epidermis. 



*From Greek epi, upon, «n<l phyton, a plant. 



