Ficus benghalensis

Banyan
The Great Banyan in Howrah, Kolkata
Banyan figs at Indira Gandhi Zoo Park, Visakhapatnam
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus
Subgenus: F. subg. Urostigma
Species:
F. benghalensis
Binomial name
Ficus benghalensis
L. 1753
Synonyms
  • Ficus banyana Oken
  • Ficus benghalensis var. krishnae (C. D. C.) Corner
  • Ficus chauvieri G. Nicholson
  • Ficus cotoneifolia Vahl
  • Ficus cotonifolia Stokes
  • Ficus crassinervia Kunth & C. D. Bouché
  • Ficus karet Baill.
  • Ficus krishnae C. D. C.
  • Ficus lancifolia Moench
  • Ficus lasiophylla Link
  • Ficus procera Salisb.
  • Ficus pubescens B. Heyne ex Roth
  • Ficus umbrosa Salisb.
  • Perula benghalensis Raf.
  • Urostigma benghalense (L.) Gasp.
  • Urostigma crassirameum Miq.
  • Urostigma procerum Miq.
  • Urostigma pseudorubrum Miq.
  • Urostigma rubescens Miq.
  • Urostigma sundaicum Miq.
  • Urostigma tjiela Miq.[1]

Ficus benghalensis, or Ficus indica commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan,[2] is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It is also known as a "strangler fig" because like many other trees in the genus Ficus it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.

  1. ^ The Plant List, Ficus benghalensis Linnaeus.
  2. ^ "Ficus benghalensis L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 8 May 2016.