Li Kang

The banyan tree, a species of fig, with its curious and striking habit, is widely distributed in southern Asia, but commonly thought of in connection with India. It is not unknown in China, however, and has attracted considerable attention there in folklore and literature because of the great canopy-like structure formed by the descent of aerial roots from its branches. These strike into the ground to form a series of new trunks, and ultimately enclose a cavernous space ideally suited for a retreat for men from the burning tropical sun. Chinese literature, like Indian literature, has emphasized the peculiarities of the tree. Chi Han j , in his Nan-fang ts'ao-mu chuang i 7~j it 7~ *IJ (Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng edition, b. 7. Hereafter cited as NFTMC), makes much of the feature of the aerial roots and their

Archaeology · Banyan · Biology · Canopy · Combinatorics · Descent (aeronautics · Genealogy · Geography · Habit · Meteorology · Tree (set theory · Agricultural Economics and Practices · Banana Cultivation and Research · Ecology · History · Mathematics · Phytochemistry and biological activities of Ficus species · Psychology