Ficus benghalensis: The Banyan Tree in Bombay

I have always managed to find banyan trees in Mumbai's still relatively pristine corners. Believe me there are still pristine corners in Mumbai! They grow tall, branch out and extend their foliage over a large area yet are generally inconspicuous, springing a surprise for the keen observer.At many important road junctions they are being trimmed, cut and being made unobtrusive on top of being inconspicuous. Everyone has a favorite and plausible theory to propound and mine is this: Mumbai must have been covered extensively by these giants long ago but have today all but vanished. To look for some evidence I searched the internet but came up with precious little. Just proves one more thing that internet is not the panacea for everything. But I do came up with some interesting links:
Photo of a banyan tree in mumbai posted in a blog.
The technical details of banyan tree
A great picture of a great banyan
A great banyan tree
In forthcoming pots it will be my endeavor to find proof of my theory by other means namely my Sony Ericsson k 750i.

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