Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbam.
Speaker 1: Here in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of
Speaker 1: West Bengal, tourists flock to a botanical garden to see what,
Speaker 1: at first glance, looks like an expansive forest. Branches of
Speaker 1: green leaves create a canopy about the size of a
Speaker 1: Manhattan city block. But the most interesting thing about this
Speaker 1: collection of plant life is that it's not a collection
Speaker 1: at all. It's one massive tree, known simply as the
Speaker 1: Great Banyan tree, and all of those apparently distinct members
Speaker 1: of a forest are actually one of about three thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred aerial roots that this single organism has put
Speaker 1: down over its two hundred and fifty years of life.
Speaker 1: If you're wondering how in the world one tree could
Speaker 1: cover some fourteen thousand, five hundred square feet of space
Speaker 1: that's about three hundred and fifty square meters, and grow
Speaker 1: branches as high as eight feet that's twenty five meters
Speaker 1: and survive over two and a half centuries, it's time
Speaker 1: to get to know a special group of trees known
Speaker 1: as banyans. Abanyons are part of the Picus or fig genus,
Speaker 1: and their history is rooted unintended in South Asia. Originally
Speaker 1: the name only referred to a single species, a Ficus bengalensis,
Speaker 1: named for the Hindu merchants and traders who conducted their
Speaker 1: business under the trees canopies. In these days, the name
Speaker 1: can refer to a number of species that fall under
Speaker 1: the not at all threatening sounding category of strangler figs.
Speaker 1: This means the trees grow from seeds that land on
Speaker 1: other trees, growing their own vines up and sending their
Speaker 1: own roots down to smother their hosts. Before the article,
Speaker 1: this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke via
Speaker 1: email with Aaron Alvarez and Bart Schitzman, both lectures in
Speaker 1: the Environmental Horticulture department at the University of Florida. They
Speaker 1: explained these plants all start life as a seed that
Speaker 1: germinates on another tree, grows as a vine, dependent on
Speaker 1: the tree for support, and eventually strangles its host tree,
Speaker 1: subsuming its structure. Later, roots grow from outward extending branches
Speaker 1: and reach the ground, becoming trunk like and expanding the
Speaker 1: footprint of the tree, sometimes gaining it in the colloquial
Speaker 1: name of a walking tree. While Kolkatta's Great Banyon is
Speaker 1: by far the greatest of them all. A Banyons as
Speaker 1: a species dominate size wise, at least in broadness. They're
Speaker 1: the world's biggest trees in terms of the area they cover.
Speaker 1: When it comes to overall volume, however, they lose to
Speaker 1: the giant Sequoia. We've talked on the show before about
Speaker 1: the two thousand year old tree named General Sherman living
Speaker 1: in California's Sequoia National Park. That's about fifty two thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred cubic feet and volume or about one thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred cubic meters. The banyan is considered a particularly
Speaker 1: meaningful tree in cultures around India and other parts of
Speaker 1: the world, with rich historical and spiritual ties. In Hinduism,
Speaker 1: the banyan is associated with the god of death, Yama,
Speaker 1: and is often planted near crematoriums outside of villages, and
Speaker 1: stories say that the god Krishna stood beneath the banyan
Speaker 1: tree when he delivered the teachings of the Scripture. The
Speaker 1: Bagavad Gida Hindu texts written over two thousand, five hundred
Speaker 1: years ago, describe a cosmic world tree an upside down
Speaker 1: growing banyan that has roots in heaven and extends new
Speaker 1: growth from trunks and branches down toward earth to deliver blessings.
Speaker 1: Over the centuries, the banyan tree took on significance as
Speaker 1: a symbol of fertility, life, and resurrection. A word got
Speaker 1: around about them, and the poet John Milton wrote about
Speaker 1: Adam and Eve making their first clothes out of banyan
Speaker 1: leaves in his epic Paradise Lost. The banyan has also
Speaker 1: served as a source of medicine and food for centuries,
Speaker 1: and the bark and roots are still used today to
Speaker 1: treat a variety of maladies in Aurvedic medicine. When the
Speaker 1: British invaded India, the tree was twisted to a newly
Speaker 1: dark purpose, often used as gallows to execute rebels who
Speaker 1: resisted their rule. When India gained independence, the people reclaimed
Speaker 1: the banyan as well, making it their national tree. A
Speaker 1: Banyans are native to and thrive in what's now India, Bangladesh,
Speaker 1: and Pakistan, but these days variations of the majestic trees
Speaker 1: can be found in other tropical regions, such as areas
Speaker 1: of Florida. In some places, they've even become invasive. There's
Speaker 1: also one famous species representative on the Hawaiian island of Maui,
Speaker 1: the Lahina banyan tree, planted in eighteen seventy three and
Speaker 1: presented to the sheriff in town by missionaries from India.
Speaker 1: Now forty feet or twelve meters tall, the Lahina banyan
Speaker 1: has a canopy circumference spanning a quarter mile that's about
Speaker 1: four hundred meters. Today's banyans aren't just beautiful and symbolic.
Speaker 1: The species also comes in handy for practical purposes. Alvarez
Speaker 1: and Shutsmen said this ability of tiny picus roots to
Speaker 1: become trunk like structures is used by the people of Megalaya,
Speaker 1: India to create footbridges across streams that become raging rivers
Speaker 1: during the monsoon season. They weave the tiny roots of
Speaker 1: our well known rubber tree another Ficus together to cross
Speaker 1: the streams. They enlarge and form sturdy structures that can
Speaker 1: live five hundred years or more and do not get
Speaker 1: washed away during the storms. However, although you may be
Speaker 1: tempted to grow your very own great banyan tree now
Speaker 1: that you know the unique magic of their aerial roots,
Speaker 1: they need some pretty specific conditions. Alvarez and Shutsmen said
Speaker 1: the best way to care for them is to give
Speaker 1: them plenty of space and warm, wet, humid weather. So
Speaker 1: most banyans don't make very good plants for regular home gardens.
Speaker 1: A few species have adapted to indoor environments and can
Speaker 1: be grown in bright in direct light with regular watering. However,
Speaker 1: they are not as long long lived as their relatives
Speaker 1: in the wild. Today's episode is based on the article
Speaker 1: the mighty Banyan tree can walk and live for centuries
Speaker 1: on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Michelle Constantinofsky. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks
Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
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