Species
+

Ficus benghalensis L.

Banyan, Banyan Fig, Bengal banyan, Bengal fig

Climate known 68 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Ficus benghalensis, Ficus indica, or Ficus audrey commonly known as banyan, banyan fig, audrey fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It is also known as a "strangler fig" because like many other trees in the genus Ficus it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up enveloping.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ficus benghalensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. Many Ficus species are grown for their fruits, though only two species, the common fig and sycamore fig, are cultivated to any extent, with common fig being the type species and by far the most important. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Ficus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Moraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya +6
Wild records
892 in range· 611 open

At a glance

Warmest month
35°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1281mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Jul 308 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1281 mm a year, wettest July at 308 mm, driest February at 10 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 11.8 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ficus banyana Oken; Ficus benghalensis var. benghalensis; Ficus benghalensis var. krishnae (C.DC.) C.DC.; Ficus chauvieri G.Nicholson; Ficus chauvieri Rob. and 14 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (922 mm of 1281 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.0 °C against a yearly mean of 26.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1281 mm a year, wettest July at 308 mm, driest February at 10 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1281 mm a year at the habitat, 922 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 308 mm, driest February at 10 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 752 mm to 2977 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 11.8 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 11.8 °C, the absolute minimum 8.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 9.5 °C to 23.2 °C), warmest day 35.0 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 11.8 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Ficus, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 28 °C in Dec to 35 °C in Apr; mean night from 16 °C in Jan to 26 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1281 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 558 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 8.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 40.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°40.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)8.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 27–43RH 52–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 558 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 22–3130 / 26–3333 / 29–3535 / 30–3834 / 30–4032 / 28–3729 / 27–3328 / 26–3229 / 27–3330 / 28–3228 / 26–3028 / 24–30
Night °C16 / 10–2318 / 12–2421 / 17–2524 / 20–2626 / 22–2725 / 22–2824 / 21–2624 / 21–2624 / 21–2522 / 19–2519 / 14–2417 / 11–23
Rain mm11 / 2–2910 / 1–3519 / 2–6032 / 3–14372 / 11–254164 / 55–693308 / 84–805256 / 100–548194 / 104–323157 / 24–33846 / 7–22412 / 3–70
DLI33 / 28–3739 / 33–4142 / 40–4443 / 38–4742 / 33–4733 / 26–4027 / 24–3327 / 23–3431 / 28–3632 / 30–3530 / 28–3231 / 26–34
RH %55 / 49–6153 / 46–6052 / 42–6155 / 39–6458 / 42–6663 / 51–7166 / 58–7267 / 59–7165 / 58–6962 / 50–6860 / 48–6656 / 49–63

Each figure is the median across the 558 grid cells holding the 881 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1522:5129 (13.875, 76.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 558 distinct grid cells holding the 881 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1522:5129 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 14.00_76.250, lapse-corrected -31 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 665 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAssam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka· introduced: St.Helena, Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Vietnam, Queensland, Gilbert Is., Marianas, Florida, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker10.635, 76.516 · in the densest population, 375 records (42% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 892 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 611 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 211 km away. 150 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 11 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 892 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ficus benghalensisFicus benghalensisFicus benghalensisFicus benghalensisFicus benghalensisFicus benghalensisFicus benghalensisFicus benghalensis

Photographs: (c) Yoav Daniel Bar-Ness, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Ramnarayan K, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ficus benghalensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Efficacy of Aqueous and Methanol Extracts of Some Medicinal Plants for Potential Antibacterial Activity
Jigna Parekh, Darshana Jadeja, Sumitra Chanda (2005) · DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Ethnomedicinal uses of the local flora in Chenab riverine area, Punjab province Pakistan
Muhammad Umair, Muhammad Altaf, Rainer W. Bussmann, Arshad Mehmood Abbasi (2019) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Seasonal Variation of Leaf Dust Accumulation and Pigment Content in Plant Species Exposed to Urban Particulates Pollution
Santosh Kumar Prajapati, B.D. Tripathi (2008) · Journal of Environmental Quality
Antibacterial Activities of Some Medicinal Plants of the Western Region of India
Rathish Nair, Sumitra Chanda (2007) · DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Biosynthesis of ZrO2 nanoparticles from Ficus benghalensis leaf extract for photocatalytic activity
H. M. Shinde, Tushar T. Bhosale, N. L. Gavade, Santosh B. Babar (2018) · Journal of Materials Science Materials in Electronics
Analysis of the characterization of NaOH-treated natural cellulose fibre extracted from banyan aerial roots
Thandavamoorthy Raja, Yuvarajan Devarajan, Subash Thanappan (2023) · Scientific Reports
The micromorphology and protein characterization of rubber particles in Ficus carica, Ficus benghalensis and Hevea brasiliensis
Adarsh Pratap Singh, Seung Gon Wi, Gap Chae Chung, Yoon Soo Kim (2003) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Wound-healing activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Ficus benghalensis
VipinKumar Garg, SarveshKumar Paliwal (2011) · Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology amp Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Ficus 18 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 51 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.