[Bot. name, Ficus Indica.] The sacred tree of India, and one of the wonders of the vegetable world. It is of the Fig family, and is called the Indian fig. Its seeds carried by the wind or dropped by birds are often deposited in the crowns of palms, and send down roots which become stems, in time taking the place of the palm. These grow to trunks from 60 to 100 feet in height, from whose branches in time, pendulous adventitious roots descend to the ground and in their turn become stems. This process continues until a single tree spreads over acres of ground and becomes a wood in itself. At Nerbudda, India, there is a tree with 354 large trunks and 3,000 small ones, which is inhabited by great numbers of birds, fruit-bats and monkeys, the latter eating the leaves as well as the fruit. Ihe Brahmins of India hold the tree in great reverence, and build their temples in its vicinity.