The Banyan tree is important to many cultures and religious around the world. These tall trees have beautiful, leathery green leaves. On the other hand, the young leaves are slightly red. The banyan tree is one of the most iconic trees in the world. It is found in tropical and subtropical regions across the planet and is known for its enormous size and impressive canopy. Let's take a closer look at some of the most interesting facts about banyan trees. We'll discuss everything from plant taxonomy to its ecological role in the rainforest. So if you want to learn more about this fascinating plant, keep reading!

→ Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) is one of over 750 fig tree species. Each fig is only pollinated by a small bee of its own species, which only breeds on partner tree's figs.

→ Banyans are strangled figs. They grow from from peas on other plants. Their roots piece their host and grow into study branches that look like new tree trunks.

→ In terms of the land they occupy, banyan trees are the biggest trees on earth. The largest inhabitant today is in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It covers an area of 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres) and can accommodate 20,000 people. 

→ Banyans are the ecological axis. They produce giant figs that support a variety of birds, fruit bats, primates and other creatures, thereby dispersing the seeds of hundreds of other plant species.

→ The first Europeans to encounter the banyan tree were Alexander the Great and his army, who arrived in India in 326 BC. The records they brought back to Greece informed Theophrastus, the founder of modern botany, and eventually led the 17th-century English poet John Milton to write in Paradise Lost that Adam and Eve made the first clothes from the leaves of the banyan tree.

→ Hindus say that the banyan tree at Jyotisar is the tree on which Krishna stood when he preached the Bhagavad Gita. 

→ For thousands of years, people have used the banyan tree as a source of medicine. Today, in Nepal, people use the leaves, bark and roots of the banyan tree to treat more than twenty diseases. 

→ A banyan tree that grows inverted with its root inn the sky is described in Hindu literature from more than 2,500 decades ago as the “world tree” of the cosmos. Its trunk and branches reach down to Earth to bring blessings to mankind. 

→ During India's struggle for independence from Britain, the British hanged hundreds of rebels to death on banyan trees. Independent India made the banyan tree its national tree. 

→ The Hawaiian banyan tree is not a native tree. Those who planted them there include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Amelia Earhart and Louis Armstrong.