THE SANCTUARY ESTATEgardens
Collection/Banyan
Banyan botanical plate
Plate · drawn for the register, 2026Ficus benghalensis
Medicinal

Banyan

Ficus benghalensis L.
India and Pakistan
Fun factIts aerial roots become new trunks, so one banyan can spread laterally across an enormous area and look like a small forest.

The banyan is a very large strangling fig with a wide spreading crown and many aerial roots that thicken into extra trunks once they touch the ground, allowing a single tree to spread sideways over an enormous area. It has large, leathery, oval leaves with prominent veins, and small red or orange figs borne in pairs where the leaves join the twigs. In India it is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists and is usually planted around temples.

Sourced · see Record tab
1on the estate
0carrying a tag
0sponsored
FamilyMoraceae
Spanish nameHigueron Sombra
Also known asIndian banyan, Banyan tree, Indian fig, Higuerón, Caucho
Native toThe Indian subcontinent (India and Pakistan)
TagGarden areaZonePlantedStatusSponsoredNote
—Western Slope—5 July 2019Planted—

1 of these has no tag yet; it will be numbered when the garden team re-tags the estate.

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