Thon tsay | ต้นไทร | Ficus benghalensis
Family: Moraceae - Genus: Ficus
In Paksong area you can find several banyan trees, many of them still growing around a host tree. The artistic tree at the Social Impact Cafe of TCDF resembles a Banyan tree.
Ficus benghalensis, commonly known as banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is an evergreen tree with a wide, spreading crown; it can grow 20 - 30 meters or more tall. The plant usually begins life as an epiphyte, growing in the branch of another tree; as it grows older it sends down aerial roots which, when they reach the ground quickly form roots and become much thicker and more vigorous. They supply nutrients to the fig, allowing it to grow faster than the host tree. The aerial roots gradually encircle the host tree, preventing its main trunk from expanding, whilst at the same time the foliage smothers the foliage of the host. Eventually the host dies, leaving the fig to carry on growing without competition. It can become a very large, spreading tree in time, with some specimens several hundred meters across and producing aerial roots from the spreading branches that eventually become new trunks and allow the crown to spread even further.
The Banyan is among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. Due to the large size of the tree's canopy, it provides useful shade in hot climates. Banyan trees have lived on the earth for nearly one million years.
The banyan tree figs are ripe in the summer period (November - March)
THE TREE
The banyan is a type of strangling fig. The tree begins life growing on other trees and eventually envelops them completely. Aerial roots hang down from the branches and these eventually become trunks.
This circle of trunks deriving from one original tree can reach an enormous size - 200 meters in diameter and 30 meters in height.
The most famous banyan tree in Thailand is the one in Ayutthaya that enveloped the head of a Buddha statue.
THE LEAVES
The leaves of the banyan tree are large, leathery, glossy, green, and elliptical. Like most figs, the leaf bud is covered by two large scales. Young leaves have an attractive reddish tinge.
THE FLOWERS
Many people think banyan trees bear fruit but never blossom, but in fact, the banyan tree isn’t flowerless. It's flowers lie inside the fruit. When cutting open a banyan fruit, you can see many pink bits growing inside. These are its flowers.
THE FRUIT
The fruits of most ficus trees are called figs. The fig is made up of stem tissue and the flowers of the tree are inside the fig. All figs are pollinated by a female wasp that enters the fig through a tiny hole at the end of the fig. Once inside, she lays her eggs and dies but the pollen she collected (from the fig she hatched in) is deposited on the flowers inside the fig. Other wasps may also lay eggs inside the fig. When the larvae hatch, the males mate with the females and then dig a tunnel through the fig for the females to exit. The females have collected pollen during their time inside the fig and seek out another fig tree to deposit their eggs. The pollinated figs will ripen and produce seeds, which are eaten by other animals and dispersed; thus, the cycle continues. Fig wasps are very small, about the size of a fruit fly, and most people will never see one. They do not sting.
By the time a fig is ripe, the flowers inside have broken down and the crunchy parts you eat are the seeds of the fruit. The figs are edible.
CULINARY USES
The reddish fruit of the Banyan tree is edible. Ripe fruit can be eaten raw. They have a sweetish flavor and are relished by children. Generally the figs are only eaten when better foods are not available (so called famine food). While its leaves are said to be edible, they are more often used as plates and for wrapping food. Fig leaves are also used to impart flavor to fire cooked foods. Some fig leaves in some areas are cooked and eaten.
NUTRITION
The fruit consists of high amount of potassium which is good to lower the sodium level of the body. It also consist of natural mineral such as magnesium, phosphor, omega 3 and 6, and poliphenol which is useful to decrease the blood pressure and prevents coronary heart disease.
TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USE
NOTE: please take advice from a doctor if you are planning to use herbal medicine.
The Banyan is used for traditional medicine in many parts of the Asian world.
Its aerial roots are styptic and taken to alleviate biliousness, dysentery, liver inflammation, jaundice, syphilis and obstinate vomiting.
Leaves are used to treat acidity, asthma, bronchitis, cough, dyspepsia, fevers, hypertension, malaria, menstrual cramps, piles, rheumatism, sciatica, snake bites, strangury and to expel intestinal worms.
The roots are used to cure bladder inflammation and also as a blood purifier.
The bark is used as a tonic and diuretic. An infusion is antidiabetic and a decoction is used as an astringent in the treatment of leucorrhoea
The fruit is used as a tonic and has a cooling effect.
INTO THE WILD: a down to earth experience
For guests and visitors to Paksong we organize weekly tours "The Edible Forest" and Foraging weekends: Into the Wild. We work with local guides to take you in the jungle of Paksong. After foraging, we will cook a meal with the ingredients, using bamboo together with you!
Come and join and learn about the abundance of food that nature gives us!
INTO THE WILD!
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