Description

• Banyan, a remarkable tree of India. A single tree thus may spread over a large area and look like a small forest.
• This tree is considered to be sacred in some places in India. It has a main trunk 13 feet (4 m) in diameter, 230 trunks as large as oak trees, and more than 3,000 smaller ones. The largest banyan tree known is on the island of Sri Lanka.
• It has 350 large trunks and over 3,000 small ones. The banyan often grows to a height of over 21 meters and lives through many ages. Perhaps the most amazing part of this extraordinary tree is its flower. The fruit is really a hollow, flower-bearing structure called a cyconia.

Uses

• The fruit are edible, remedy for tooth pain, bonsai material, ornamental.
• The leaves are used to remedy dysentery and diarrhoea.
• Various parts of this plant are considered medicinal. The bark of this therapeutically valuable tree is attributed with tonic, astringent, cooling and diuretic properties in Ayurveda.