Because banyan has the characteristics of long life and fast growth, its lateral branches and roots are very developed. Some branches have many lenticels, and many aerial roots can grow everywhere and hang down like handfuls of beards.
These aerial roots grow downward, thicken into column roots, are unbranched and leafless, and play a role in supporting and supplying nutrients. These functions are the same as those of other roots (absorbing water and nutrients, while supporting branches that expand outward), which makes the crown expand continuously. A huge old banyan tree can have more than 1000 pillars. Its crown can cover more than 6000 square meters, and it is called "single tree into forest".
Why the roots of the big banyan tree are exposed on the ground;
1, exposed on the ground is the "air root" of the banyan tree.
2. The "air root" is a root exposed on the ground, which is convenient for Ficus microcarpa to breathe and photosynthesis.
3. The big banyan tree also has roots that grow under the soil. This root is called "vegetative root", which is the root provided by the root system for the good growth of plants.
Banyan: a tree with a height of 15-25m and a DBH of 50cm and a broad crown; Old trees usually have rusty brown air roots. The bark is dark gray. Leaves are thin leathery, narrowly oval, dark green, shiny and entire. Fig fruits are axillary in pairs or in deciduous leaves, yellow or reddish when mature, oblate, with 3 bracts at the base, broadly ovoid and persistent; Male flowers, female flowers and gall flowers are all born in a fig fruit, and there are several short bristles between flowers; Tepals 3, broadly ovate, lower part of style, short stigma, rod-shaped. Achenes are ovoid. Flowering period may-June.