Banyan

a tree of India. The banyan tree is noted for rooting branches. The main tree throws out vast branches at a great height like our hardwood trees. The lower and horizontal branches let drop slender shoots, which no sooner reach the ground at a distance of several yards, it may be, than they take root and form new stems, sending out branches at the top like those of the parent tree. In this way a single tree becomes a mountain of foliage, resting on a multitude of trunks which serve as supporting columns. Nearchus, the general of Alexander who conducted an expedition to the East, reported that he found a tree in India large enough to shelter an entire army. Seven thousand persons are known to have encamped under a banyan tree supposed to be the one described by Nearchus. A banyan tree, thirteen feet in diameter, in the botanical garden of Calcutta, has been described as having a main stem and 3,000 smaller ones. While the banyan grows throughout extensive areas and is not useless, it is regarded rather as a curiosity than otherwise. Hordes of chattering monkeys feed on its leaves and berries, and share its shelter with bright colored birds and enormous bats.