Back Banian BI Banià Catalan Sṳ̀ng-chéu (Hók-ciŭ chê-chéu) CDO ބަންޔަން DV Banjano EO Baniano Spanish Banyan EU لور (درخت) FA Baniano GL वड GOM
 | This article possibly contains original research. (April 2020) |
| Banyan | |
|---|---|
| |
| Banyan with characteristic adventitious prop roots | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Moraceae |
| Genus: | Ficus |
| Subgenus: | F. subg. Urostigma |
| Species | |
A banyan, also spelled banian (/ˈbænjən/ BAN-yən),[1] is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely.[2] This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as an epiphyte,[3] i.e. a plant that grows on another plant, when its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. "Banyan" often specifically denotes Ficus benghalensis (the "Indian banyan"), which is the national tree of India,[4] though the name has also been generalized to denominate all figs that share a common life cycle and used systematically in taxonomy to denominate the subgenus Urostigma.[5]
- ^ "banian". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
- ^ Armstrong, Wayne (October 1999). "Stranglers & Banyans". Wayne's Word. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
- ^ Laman, Timothy G. (1995). "The Ecology of Strangler Fig Seedling Establishment". Selbyana. 16 (2): 223–9. JSTOR 41759910.
- ^ "National Tree". Know India. Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ Note the use of "Banyan" versus "banyan" in Athreya, Vidya R. (July 1997). "Nature Watch: Trees with a Difference: The Strangler Figs". Resonance. 2 (7): 67–74. doi:10.1007/BF02838593. S2CID 125012527.; also "Aerial-Rooting Banyan Trees". Natural History Guide To American Samoa. University of Washington. Archived from the original on 4 September 2007.