THE ROOT. 13 
form around the parent stem thousands of columns, which extend 
their ramifications, each throwing out new lateral branches and 
new adventitious roots. The natives love to build their temples 
in the intervals left between these roots of the wild fig, which, 
when they penetrate the soil, resume the functions of true roots. 
The famous Banyan-tree on the Nerbuddah is said, by the late 
Professor Forbes, to have 300 large and 3,000 smaller roots—aerial 
roots, as they are sometimes called. It is capable of sheltering 
3,000 men, and thus forms one of the marvels of the vegetable 
world. It is, in short, a forest within a forest. (Plate I.) This is 
the celebrated Banyan-tree whose seeds are said to be so cooling 
and alterative. 
Fig, 14.—Ventitious roots of the Ivy. 
The stem of the Ivy (Hedera helix) is furnished with root-like 
processes or suckers, which seem to have no other function than 
that of apna supporting the plant (Fig. 14). By insinu- 
