Ficus macrophylla f. columnaris, Sydney Botanic Garden, Sydney, NSW, Australia [Photography]

A large banyan tree with thick, pale grey aerial roots and sprawling branches dominates the image. Numerous vertical roots descend from the upper branches, creating a dense, intertwined structure at the base. The canopy is filled with dark green leaves through which sunlight filters

Restricted to Lord Howe Island. The most remarkable characteristic of this plant (as compared to F. macrophylla subsp. macrophylla in mainland Australia) is its lack of a single main trunk. Instead, it has 10 or more trunks each having arisen from an aerial root. In 1882 it was recorded that the largest of the old trees on Lord Howe Island covered an area of about 1 hectare.

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