Common Name: Chinese Banyan

General Information

Chinese banyan is an evergreen, small or medium-sized banyan tree with a dense, spreading crown; it can grow up to 25 metres tall and develope numerous slender aerial roots from the branches[]. The bole has large buttresses[]. It can start life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree and can eventually send down aerial roots that, once they reach the ground, provide extra nutrients that help the plant grow more vigorously. These aerial roots can completely encircle the trunk of the host tree, constricting its growth - this, coupled with the more vigorous top growth, can lead to the fig outcompeting and killing the tree in which it is growing[]. As the tree grows larger it produces aerial roots from the crown that descend and become prop roots, feeding and supporting the canopy and allowing it to spread even wider[].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of fibre, latex and wood. It is cultivated, especially in southern India, as a shade tree in coffee plantations and is widely planted in SE Asia and other tropical regions as an ornamental shade tree[]. It is planted as a pioneer species in reforestation projects in Thailand[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - southern China, Indian subcontinent, through southeast Asia to Australia and the Pacific Islands.

Habitat

Grows in widely varying locations, from rocky sea coasts to limestone hills, and from swampy ground near the sea to montane forest[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	25.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Pollinators	Wasps
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Succeeds in full sun to partial shade[].Prefers a moist, fertile soil[].
The plant is widely grown as an ornamental. In some areas, such as Hawaii, the wasp that fertilizes it has also been introduced and, in such circumstances the plant has escaped from cultivation and invaded native environments[].
A fast-growing species[].
The plant can produce fruit all year round[].
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit.
The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. Must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The root, bark and leaf latex are used medicinally to treat wounds, headache and toothache[].

The bark and leaf latex is taken internally to treat colic and liver trouble[].

Patients with fever or headache perspire in the steam of boiling young leaves[].

Agroforestry Uses:

Grown as a shade tree for coffee plantations[].
The tree is planted as a pioneer species in northern Thailand in reforestation projects to restore native woodland - it is planted in degraded woodland and open areas in a mix with various other species that all have the ability to grow fast; produce dense, weed-suppressing crowns; and attract seed-dispersing wildlife, particularly birds and bats[].

Other Uses

A fibre from the bark is made into cloth[].

The latex is used for caulking boats and waterproofing[].

The wood, including the aerial roots, is used locally in light construction, tool making etc[].
The wood is used for fuel[].

Propagation

Seed - germinates best at a temperature around 20°c[].
Air layering[].
Tip cuttings around 4 - 12cm long, taken from lateral branches[].

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