Great Banyan Tree: The Forest That's Secretly One Plant

Walk into the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden in Shibpur, just across the Hooghly from Kolkata, and you will find what looks like a small, shaded woodland.

The Great Banyan is a Ficus benghalensis, the species that gives India its national tree.

That is exactly what has happened at Shibpur.

How One Tree Loses Its Own Trunk and Lives

Here is the detail that turns a big tree into a genuine wonder.