Ficus benghalensisOur World

Banyan Tree

Explore the banyan’s broader evolutionary setting, its scientific name, and the living tree with many trunks.

Subject guide · scope, chapters & sources ↗

Requested road · The species’ exact evolutionary origin is not securely dated here. Early stops concern the wider fig–wasp relationship, not a proven chain of banyan ancestors.

Official Earth time scaleSelect an eon on the road to reveal its eras.ICS 2026/06 ↗

At least 60 million years agoGlobal

Figs and wasps evolve together

The banyan belongs to a much older fig lineage.

Close-up of a small fig wasp inside a cut fig. — P. Zborowski / CSIRO · CC BY 3.0

c. 34 million years agoEurope

Ancient wasps carry fig pollen

Fossils preserve direct evidence of an old partnership.

1753 CESouth Asia

A botanical name enters print

Linnaeus publishes the name Ficus benghalensis.

Latin title page of Species Plantarum, dated 1753. — Carl von Linné / BEIC digital library · Public domain

1925 CESouth Asia

The Great Banyan loses its main trunk

A famous tree survives a drastic intervention.

Spreading Great Banyan canopy supported by many root trunks. — Rahul O R · CC BY-SA 4.0

Present daySouth Asia

One tree, many trunks

Aerial roots create a spreading canopy and living shelter.