FICUS RELIGIOSA.— THE INDIAN FIG TREE. 
Class XXIII. POLYGAMIA.— Order III. TRICECIA. 
Natural Order, ARTOCARPE.E. THE BREAD-FRUIT TRIBE. 
Ficus Indica, the Banyan Tree, is a native of most parts of India, both on the islands and the main land. 
Roxburgh states, that it is found in its greatest perfection and beauty about the villages on the skirts of the 
Circar mountains. The leaves are ovate, heart-shaped, three-ribbed, and entire; when young, downy on 
both sides; when old, much smoother; they are from five to six inches long, and from three to four broad; 
at the top of the leafstalk, on the underside, is a broad, smooth, greasy-looking gland. The figs when ripe 
grow in pairs from the axils of the leaves, are downy, and about the size and colour of a middle-sized red 
cherry. The wood is light, white, porous, and of no value. Brahmins use the leaves as plates to eat off; 
birdlime is manufactured from the tenacious milky juice. If the seeds drop in the axils of the leaves of the 
Palmyra Tree ( Borassus flabelliformisj, the roots grow downwards, embracing the trunk in their descent; 
by degrees they envelop every part except the top, w hence in very old specimens the leaves and head of the 
Palmyra are seen emerging from the trunk of the Banyan Tree, as if they grew from it. The Hindoos 
regard such cases with reverence, and call them a holy marriage instituted by Providence. The Banyan 
Tree, covering with its trunks a sufficient space to shelter a regiment of cavalry, and used as a natural ca- 
nopy for great public meetings, has been so often described by writers on India as to have become familiar 
to the reader. The branches spread to a great extent, dropping their roots here and there, which as soon as 
they reach the ground, rapidly increase in size, till they become as large as and similar to the parent trunk, 
by which means the quantity of ground they cover is almost incredible. Roxburgh says that he has seen 
such trees full five hundred yards round the circumference of the branches, and a hundred feet high, the 
principal trunk being more than twenty-five feet to the branches, and eight or nine feet in diameter. An 
excellent account of such a tree will be found in the Oriental Annual for 1834; and a graphic description of 
the mode of growth in Rumf’s ‘Herbarium Amboinense, 5 vol. iii. p. 126. See also ‘Asiatic Researches, 5 
vol. iv. p. 310. It is called Yuta in Sanscrit, Bur or But in Bengali, Bagha in Cingalese. (Penny Cyclopaedia.) 
The banian or pagod tree of the Hindoos, says Professor Burnett, is the F. reliyiosa, so called from its 
dedication to superstitious observances, and the reverence in which it is held. It is indeed a most wonderful 
and venerable tree, not only rising to a majestic height, and spreading its huge arms through a vast expanse, 
but at intervals sending down roots from its branches which, entering the ground, corroborate the parent trunk, 
and convey unlimited supplies of nourishment from the soil. Fifty, sixty, or even an hundred of these adven- 
titious stems, are not uncommon to a single tree: one at Revel-gong, a friend lately returned from India tells 
me, covers more than half an acre, and others are known still larger ; for the celebrated banian of Cubbeer- 
bur, when measured by Mr. Forbes, was 2000 feet in circumference, tracing only round the principal stems. 
The overhanging ones, not then struck down, covered (says Mr. Forbes) a much larger space. The chief 
trunks of this single tree, greatly exceeding in size our common oaks and elms, were 350 in number, and the 
smaller stems amounted to more than 3000, every one of which was casting out new branches and hanging- 
roots, to form further trunks, and become the parents of a future progeny. Cubbeer-bur was for ages 
famed throughout Hindustan for its great extent and beauty ; and it is said that 7000 persons have found 
ample room to repose beneath its shade. Another Banian is mentioned by an old writer, which is said to 
have covered five acres of ground. Strabo, Pliny, and other ancient authors, have attempted in their works 
minute and accurate accounts of this tree ; but Milton has perhaps given a more graphic description in fewer 
w r ords than any other writer : 
“ The fig-tree ; not that kind for fruit renowned ; 
But such as at this day to Indians known 
In Malabar or Deccan, spreads her arms, 
Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 
The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow 
About the mother tree, a pillared shade 
High overarched, with echoing walks between.” 
When speaking of the tree measured by Mr. Forbes, the author of “The Vegetable World 55 says, “ac- 
cording to the Hindoo superstition, the origin of the tree is ascribed to a saint, who, ages since, invoked a 
blessing from Brahma on a small sprig of a banian-tree, which he stuck into the ground on this spot, and 
