Archives

Red Panda’s Tree

Near the enclosure of the beauitul, bamboo-eating Red Panda of the high Himalaya at the Darjeeling Zoo is a relative of the Sampige tree

Ambassador Pipal

On the walk from Churchgate to Marine Drive, a large peepal tree on the left foreshadows the Ambassador Hotel

The Mad Science Cactus Ambassador

At the Regional Plant Resource Center’s giant cactus collection, this small individual represents the mass of weird little cactus plants grafted into chimeras

Kalpataru 1-3

These three baobabs at the entrance to Doranda college were incorrectly reported to be rare members of the Kalpavrish, of which only nine exist India. Fortunately, there are many more baobabs than just nine.

IIT Madras Ambassador

One of the large banyans hiding in the woods of the Indian Institute of Technology, this tree has a bench for contemplation, branches to monkey in, and monkeys in the branches contemplating you.

Heliodorus Nail

Near an ancient monument to a Greek ambassador in 140 BC, this is one of several old tamarind trees, filled with iron rings and nails which are used by local villagers to help exorcise evil demons.

The Mori Pine

At a sandy river bank along the Tons River, this champion sized pine is now in pieces after it succumbed to fungal decay

The Kanasar Giant

One of the largest and most famous cedar trees can be found at the Kanasar Grove north of Chakrata; this is the largest individual, signed as 6.35 m in girth

Tabo Ancient Corner Poplar

In the soaring high desert landscape of Spiti Valley, this sacred and ancient Poplar tree is linked to the earliest days of the Tabo Monastery, famed for its Buddhist murals

Sukhna Lake Monarch at Chandigarh

Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh’s main reservoir, is graced by one of the city’s largest trees, a peepal which shades the walking track around the sometimes-dry waterbody

Naggar Climbing Cedar

At the Forest Rest House in Naggar, a mature cedar tree makes for a great introduction to climbing the deodars

Highest Cricket Pitch Historical Tree

At a military training school in the town of Chail, this old dead tree, with crumbling treehouse, can be found in the corner of the world’s highest official cricket pitch

Sipur Tower

This is the largest tree at the Sipur sacred Deodar Cedar grove below Mashobra; with four connected trunks it is a striking and massive monarch of the forest

Triund Oak

Trekkers who make it up to the dramatic crest of Triund plateau will find this old oak tree perched on the edge of the slopes.

Shaj Jehan Semal

The tallest and largest of the Semal trees just right of the Taj Mahal, the world’s superlative architectural icon.

Akal Lower Jurassic Petrified Woods

Under the scorching suns of the western Rajasthan deserts,fragments of petrified wood help one to imagine the forests of India more than 180 million years earlier

Lodurva Kalpataru

A eight-metal sculpture representing the Wish-Fulfilling Tree has been erected in a ancient sandstone Jain temple.

Bishnoi Memorial Khejri

Three hundred and sixty three Bishnoi people sacrificed themselves to the king’s woodcutters to successfully protect this grove of trees, and in the 400 years since their devotion have inspired generations of ardent treehuggers and nature preservationists

The Celestial Tree

A Celestial Wishing Tree can be found– behind a cage- at the Dilwara Jain Temple in Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s craggy holiday town.

Diu Town Beach Gate Hoka

A rare branching African Hoka palm stands guards at one of the gates to the Portuguese Fort of Diu

Diu Rukhda Baobab

A superbly squat, elderly, and elephantine baobab is hidden in the woods near Nagoa beach.

The Double Decker Root Bridge

Truly a unique accomplishment in the world, the roots of this rubber tree have been patiently guided by the Khasi people to form a sturdy, two-level bridge over a steep canyon.

The Mawphlang Elder

The namesake tree of a well-known and+Q908 ecologically critical sacred grove, this tree marks the site where the Khasi elders come to consult and make decisions.

Kaziranga Hotel Banyan

At a heritage hotel associated with the Kaziranga National Park, visitors there to see the one-horned rhinos can also visit this stout and upright banyan tree.

Chowrasta Symingtonia

Darjeeling’s ridgetop social and pedestrian scene centres around the Chowrasta plaza, and these trees are the tallest and most prominent there.

Konark Sun Chariot Banyan

A large banyan tree grows immediately next to the Konark Sun Temple, one of the most extravagant and famous of all of India’s temples.

Muggermouth Dolphin Tree

A lone banyan tree visible from the water as one travels to the mouth of Chillika Lake out to see the Muggers- the rare Irrawady Dolphins

Ram Teak

In a grove of impressive teak trees in the wild forests of Kanger Valley National Park, the largest tree present is named after the famous hero Rama.

Thimmamma Marrimanu

This could be considered the largest tree in the world: with its connected trunks spreading out 180 meters in diameter, it is the largest banyan and one of the superlative trees on Earth.

Sathya Sai Kalpavriksh

A young Sathya Sai Baba performed a miracle when he made this tree produce many different kinds of fruit, in his early days as a holy guru.

India’s Southernmost Tree

The southernmost trees of mainland India are scrubby Casuarina’s behind the Gandhi memoria, and just nearby you can find a rubbish pile of plastic litter

The Grandmother Tree

The largest tree in Cochin and a well-known landmark to all, this grandmotherly tree has been the focal point for the Fort Cochin Tree Festival. This tree is part of the Fort Cochin Tree Trail

The Weathervane Tree

This rectangular-based tree grew over the metal structure of an old weathervane to help sailors approach Fort Cochin, and the old metal ladder rusting inside still offers access into the treetop.This tree is part of the Fort Cochin Tree Trail.

Marayur Children’s Park Banyan

Surrounded by sandalwood forests and soaring granite mountains, the town of Murayur is fortunate to have a park with a giant banyan for kids to play under.

The World’s Rarest Tree

The last of its species remaining in the wild, in the shola forests of the Western Ghats. Thought to be extinct, and known previously only from a single specimen, it is being propogated by the Vattakanal Conservation Trust as a last-chance conservation. To learn more, or to contribute to their conservation initatives, visit www.vattakanalconservationtrust.org

The Rarest Tree Ex Situ

The Vattakanal Conservation Trust has planted this tree as part of the Vattakanal Village roadside rainforest restoration efforts- it is the progeny of one tree that is the only surviving member of its species in the wild. To learn more, or to contribute to their conservation initatives, visit www.vattakanalconservationtrust.org

Kodai 500 Year Old Jamun

A gnarled old jamun tree. signposted- and futilely fenced off- is a tourist attraction near Kodai Lake. The Vattakanal Conservation Trust has identified these trees as significant elements of the last shola rainforests. To learn more, or to contribute to their conservation initatives, visit www.vattakanalconservationtrust.org

Kannimara

The largest teak in the world is a source of pride and attraction for Parambikulam National Park, a forested valley surrounding a dammed lake.

The Chain Tree

Legend has it that after a British engineer murdered his native assistant, the haunting ghost was chained to the tree.

Edakkal Flower Painting

At the ancient Stone Age rock carving site embedded within the granite rocks of Wayanad, there is a circular picture that guides there conjecture may represent a flowering tree

Madhyacharya Banyan Cluster

A collection of plants, all intertwined with an old banyan, serves as a shrine and memorial to Madhyacharya, a Hindu philosopher born here

Bom Jesus Rain Trees

At the Bom Jesus Basilica in Old Goa, two giant Rain Trees rival the huge Portuguese cathedral for sheer size.

The Arambol Forest Banyan

Hiding in the forests behind Sweetwater Lake at Arambol Beach is a large banyan tree, where you can always find a friendly group of beach pilgrims and holy men

Teak Museum Forest Trees

Nilambur is justifiably proud of its teak forests, and this root mass can be found at the entrance to a museum devoted to the tree species.

The Biggest Tree at Connolly’s Plot

In a magnificent 150-year-old teak plantation named after the British forester H.V. Connolly, the largest tree is a famous landmark for visitors to Nilambur’s extensive forests.

Calicut High Court Judge

Behind the courthouse in the coastal town of Calicut/Kohzikode, an rain tree spreads wide over the bustling activities of the lawyers below.

A Monster of a Monkey Puzzle

A huge Araucaria tree grow in the back of the Ooty Botanical Gardens, a representative of an ancient lineage of conifers which used to dominate the world

My Long Lost Stringybark Friend

At the Ooty Botanical Gardens, I immediately recognized the stringybark gum trees that I knew so well from Tasmania- I spent four years of my life climbing into these superlative trees and studying the treetop biodiversity

Accamma’s Tree at Koshy’s

Prem Koshy, owner of Koshy’s cafe in downtown Bangalore,saved this Mahagony tree just out front. He successfully fought its illegal destruction and has named it in honour of a woman named Accamma, who lived beneath it for 40 years.

Immortal Site of Bhagavid Gita

At this banyan tree, the god Krishna spoke to the warrior Arjuna before his battle on the field of Kurukshetra; this conversation is recorded as the sacred book of the Bhagavad-Gita

Ber Sahib

Guru Nanak Ji meditated at this tree every day for 14 years, and here this Sikh teacher attained a connection with God.

Ilachi Ber

Under this tree, Guru Arjan used to sit under this tree and watch the digging of the sacred tank.When Mahitab Singh Mirankotia and Sukkha Singh arrived here to liberate the Harimandar from Masse Khan Ranghar, they fastened their horses to this jujube tree before entering the building.

Dukh Bhanjani Ber

Named by Guru Ram Das, the “Eradicator of Suffering” tree is associated with the legend of Bibi Rajani whose husband was cured of leprosy by having a dip the waters of the ancient pond here.

Golden Temple Ber Baba Budha Ji

An old jujube tree where Baba Buddha, entrusted with the supervision of the digging of the tank, used to sit with digging tools for the construction of the Harimandar. A marble platform now surrounds the tree trunk.

JalianWalla Bag Gum Tree

This eucalyptus tree was probably not yet even planted in 1919 when the British army massacred 400 Indian civilians in this walled garden in Amritsar

The Viceroy

Behind the former Viceregal Lodge in Shimla is a grand oak tree festooned with ferns and moss, under the British rulers of India would have sat while governing the most prized territory of their extensive empire.

Rare Tree Chinnar

At the main plaza of the Mall in Shimla, on the watershed divide between the Ganga and the Indus rivers, you can find this sycamore tree from Asia Minor well signposted as “Rare Tree Chinar”

The Char Minar Chinar

This four-trunked monster is the largest and most elaborate of the old Chinar trees in Srinagar, and is planted just below the Mughal Gardens.

Char Chinar Island

A favourite destination to visit via the Shikhara boats on Kashmir’s Dal Lake is this small garden island crowned by four large and distinct Chinar trees in the corners

Jakpo The Snake King’s Tree at Likir

In Ladakh’s oldest, 930-year-old monastery on the snake-like hill of Kli-Khil this ancient evergreen cypress is named after the Naga King Jakpo, who once slept here in the mythological past

Nor La Evergreen Juniper

In a rocky valley high in the Ladakh Himalaya, an evergreen juniper tree is a striking landmark- there are no other trees like it anywhere nearby

Datun Miswak Sahib

The oldest and largest tree in the high-altitude city of Leh is an incredible poplar that was planted by the Sikh Guru Nanak Singh during his travels.

Sidi Saiyad Tree of Life

In central Ahmedabad, at the Masjid built by Sidi Saiyad, there is a famous stone carved screen with a date palm and a spreading tree delicately represented

Kabir Vad Banyan

On a sand island in the Holy Narmada river, the discarded toothbrush twig of the Sage Kabir has grown into one of the world’s broadest trees.

The Walking Mango

Planted by the original Parsi settlers in India, this curious tree has been on the move- it has the unique ability for its branches to take root and crawl along the ground.

BNHS tree

This tree is at the entrance to the Bombay Natural History Society, one of the oldest and most influential of India’s many environmental organizations.

Bangalore Dodd Aladamara

The improved and overdeveloped Big Banyan is a remarkable tree just outside of Bangalore and is a popular trip for city tourists

Ancient Nallur Tamarind

This botanical marvel, almost one thousand years old with root sprouts, lightning scars, rooting branches, and strange hollows, is likely the gnarliest, twistiest, strangest tamarind tree on the planet.

Pita Mahe Pentandra

A monstrous Kapok tree from Central America takes pride of place in the collection of trees at Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens

De Gama’s Mango

This large Mango tree at Fort Angelo, named after the Portugese explorer, is unique in that it is actually two trees fused together at the base, and again at a single branch above- all three sections bear different types of fruit.

Uppangala Giant Dipterocarpus

A colossal Dipterocarpus tree (one of India’s largest tropical tree species) marks the entrance to a long term research site deep in the Karnataka jungles.

Zodiac Trees

At Nakshatra Park in Ranchi, these 24 trees planted radially represent different astrological divisions throughout the year

Passport Baba Tree

Countless applicants for visas and passports bring their papers for the blessing of the Sufi saint buried beneath this pipal tree

Victoria Eyeball Parkia

A huge Parkia tree at the right side of Victoria Memorial, with a beautiful reflection resembling an eyeball

The Great Banyan

One of the world’s largest trees, the Great Banyan of Calcutta ‘s Howrah Botanical Gardens is a famous landmark and tourist attraction.

The Lepisanthes at Sadhana

At Delhi’s zoo, near the Purana Qila Old Fort, a broad Tree of Heaven offers shade to auto-wallahs and the occasional book-seller.

Auroville Matrimandir Banyan

When Sri Aurobindo and the Mother established Auroville on what was then degraded farmlands, they chose this banyan tree as the focal point from which their reforestation and conscious-living community would spread.

Jardin Botanique Khaya

A giant African mahogany tree stands near other giants in the Jardin Botanique de Pondecherry.

Kamakshi Ekambaram

When the purportedly 3500 year old One (Ek) Mango (Ambaram) at Kanchipuram died, a new one was planted and worship continues where Kamakshi was ceremoniously married to Lord Shiva

Flag of St Thomas

On top of St Thomas Mount, a banyan tree offers shade for pilgrims to the cave hermitage of the first Christian missionary to India.

Theosophical Society Big Banyan

One of the world’s largest banyans can be found in the middle of Chennai on the forested campus of the Theosophical Society, a spiritual movement founded by Madam Blavatsky

Vitthala Chariot Tree

This wonderfully wizened tree stands just around the corner from the famous Stone Chariot at Vitthala Temple, in the surreal granitic boulder landscape of Hampi

Jubilee Hills Fairy Tale Tree

This banyan tree, first identified by the Society to Save Rocks in Hyderabad, is cracking open a massive granite boulder in an amazing way.

Elephant’s Hathion ka Baobab

A most magnificent, immense baobab tree on the outskirts of Hyderabad’s Golconda Fort offers the full experience for any landmark tree: you can climb on to the branches, go inside of it’s hollow trunk, stand next to it, gawk at it, and relax under it.

Lonar Meteorite Crater Temple Neem

When a meteor slammed into the basal landscape of central India only 50,000 years ago, it gouged out a massive crater, now filled with an alkaline lake, where you can find this neem tree growing near a small temple.

Daulatabad Gate Spathodea

A lovely flowering African Tulip tree at the lowest gateway of Tughlak’s superbly defended Daulatabd Fort, perched high on a granite mountain.

Kailashnath Neem

This big neem tree is passed by countless visitors to the ornate Kailashnath temple at Cave 16, the crown jewel in the Ellora rock-cut caves complex in Maharahstra.

Sai Baba Neem

The renowned Shri Sai Baba, a holy man of Maharashtra, used to meditate under this neem tree which now stands in an elaborate temple complex devoted to his teachings.

Panchavati 1-5

Ram and Sita, legendary heroes of Hindustan, once spent an evening beneath these five banyan trees, now a pilgrimage site in Nashik.

Alandi Ajavriksh

This holy tree marks the placae where Dnyaneshwar, Marathi translator of the Bhagavad Gita, went underground for th Samadhi

Tukaram GamanStan

Tukaram, a Hindu sage, is memorialized by this tree near a temple devoted to his teachings.

The Malabar Hill Flag

Perhaps the biggest tree in Mumbai, this huge, tremendous, dramatic South American tree is very visible from Chowpatty Beach and Marine Drive.

The Colaba Rain Tree

A Central American Rain Tree offers a fantastic canopy in the very pulsing heart of Mumbai, shading the steps of the Modern Art musuem. Someone has spraypainted an advertisment for “Bean Bags”

Rajayatna Tree Surrogate at Bodh Gaya

Another ancient and immense Bodhi Tree next to the place where Gautama gained enlightenment, this tree can serve as a surrogate of the Rajayatna tree, under which the Buddha meditated following his epiphany

Astrologer’s Transit Tree

In the holy city of Ujjain, the centerpoint of the Hindu study of the stars, a neem tree is prominent at the Jantar Mantar solar observatory, one of five astronomical installations throughout India established by Man Singh.

Mahakal Vriksh Triveni

At the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, the centre of the world and the site of a Jyotirlinga, a Vriksh Triveni is prominent in one corner- a fusion of a neem, banyan and peepal tre.

Siddhavat

One of India’s most sacred trees, this isolated fragment stem of a once-larger banyan (Vat) marks the straight (Siddha) path.

Chauragarh Trisul

On the summit of the dramatic sandstone peak of Chauragarh, this spindly semal tree is surrounded by countless metal tridents brought up by devotees of Shiva

Union Carbide Weeping Ashok

A small Ashok tree represents the night in Bhopal on 3 December 1984, when a cloud of poisonous methylated cyanide leaked from the Union Carbide fertilizer factory and killed many thousand people living nearby.

Mallanimli

One of the most spectacular trees in India, a monstrously proportioned giant African Baobab standing in a field near Orccha, reputedly planted by the Maharaja Bir Singh Deo almost 500 years ago.

Tansen’s Tree

The tomb of Tansen, a famous musician in Akhbar’s court, is marked by a now-dead jujube tree, whose leaves were said to make one’s voice sweeter and more melodious.

The Flag of Gwalior

Anywhere in East Gwalior you can see this young pipal tree near the eastern gates of Gwalior Fort standing tall on the rim of the plateau

Kallemullah’s Mango Masterpiece

Kalleemullah, a mango cultivator near Lucknow, has produced a masterpiece with this one mango tree, upon which an astounding 312 varieties of mango have been grafted onto one stem.

Sahni ka Dadoxylon

The Birbal Sahni Paleobotanical Insitute in Lucknow is the largest collection of fossil-plant specialists anywhere in the world, and in the entrance a fossilized Dadoxylon stem stands as a reminder of the world’s long-gone forests.

Allahabad Akshayvat Vriksh

In the corner of Allahabad’s 450 yr old Fort, at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna, this sacred immortal tree is just above an buried temple wherein you can experience the underworld.

Sarnath Bodhi

At the Deer Park in Sarnath, a descendant of the Bodhi tree commemorates the location where the Buddha taught his philosophy.

Hanuman’s Mace

The Hanuman’ Mace is a massive, single trunked banyan tree towering above but rarely noticed from the crowded main Dasashvamed Ghat on the Ganga River

Nalanda University 8-Date

A strange, eight-branching mutant date palm can be found at the ruins of one of the world’s first universities, the Buddhist school of Nalanda

The Bodhi Tree

The world’s most famous pilgrim tree, this marks the location where the Buddha attained enlightenment, and is the destination for the Buddhism’s most important pilgrimage.

Raj Saal

There is a notable traffic hazard on the road near the village of Byasi in the lower mountain reaches of the Ganga- a strong and massive saal tree growing in the middle of the road

Jageshwar Monarchs

Two immense deodar cedars- nine hundred years old and amongst the world’s largest- grow about a complex and dense cluster of Shiva temples, nestled in a cool valley in thepine lands of the Kumaon Himalaya.

Adi Shankara’s Ancient Mulberry

The Hindu reformer Adi Shankara meditated beneath this spectacularly large mulberry tree, in the steep valley of Joshimath beneath the soaring Himalayan peaks.

Corbett’s Leopard Machan

In 1925, Jim Corbett, a legendary big-cat hunter and conservationist, put an end to the Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag while perched in this tree

DevDar DevDar

Amongst the cool cedar and pine forests of Landour, above Mussoorie, on the first ridges of the Uttarakhand Himalaya, lightning has struck a massive cedar at the Devdar Woods Hotel and triggered the growth of several large upright trunks from a single ste

Bonsai National Park Pilkhan

Tucked away in a corner of Lodhi Gardens in Delhi is the Bonsai National Park, and this sixty year old tree is one of the most impressive of the diminutive trees there

Kaliya Serpent Tree

Krishna jumped from this very tree into the Yamuna River to fight, subdue, and banish to the Ocean the poisonous, 100-headed, Kaliya Black Serpent

Krishna Kapra Kadamb

In a long distant time, at this tree, a mischevious young Krishna hid the clothes of the gopi cowherd girls while they were swimming

India Habitat Center Tall Tree

India Habitat Centre is a cultural and environmental hub, and in its shady courtyards, this is the tallest of the fishtail palms growing towards the geometric sunshade roof

Deer Park Pilkhan

Near the Deer Park at Hauz Khas Village in South Delhi, a old pilkhan tree is the best-tended of all the trees

Nehru’s Shade Tree

Prime Minister Nehru Ji loved to sit in the shade of this Laburnum tree in the back yard of his residence at Teen Murti Bhavan

Hauz Khas Imli

An old and gnarly Imli can be found above the large watertank pool, amongst the ancient Muslim university ruins and art galleries of Hauz Khas in South Delhi.

Lodhi River Red Gum

At the green and spacious Lodhi Gardens in the heart of New Delhi, a huge Murray River Red Gum from the interior of Australia spreads its branches out wide.

Four Thirty Ficus

If you imagine Connaught Place, Delhi’s commercial hub, as a clockdial, then at 4:30 you can find this large and healthy bodhi tree, the largest remaining tree in the area.

The Survivor Pine at Mori

This is one of the last surviving giant pines at the riverside grove in Mori, now surrounded by a younger plantation of pine trees.

Laxmi Narayan Tree at Rawalsar

A tree sacred to Krishna grows at a temple near the sacred Lake of Rewalsar, nestled in the pine-mountains of Himachal Pradesh

Spiti Snapshot Willow

This tree, one of the largest in the entire Spiti Valley, was only quickly photographed from the window of a share-jeep hurtling down the highway

Nako Gompa Cypress

The village of Nako, high in the mountains between Kinnaur and Spiti, is beneath a small Buddhist monument where this tree grows

Inner Line Permit Poplar

This poplar tree offers some shade to the foreigners queuing to get an Inner-line permit into the restricted mountain border region

Ram Bagh Imli

A tamarind tree at Ram Bagh, in Agra, where the first Mughal Gardens were first brought to India from Persia.

Taj Longleaf Pine

A Himalayan Longleaf pine grows near the entrance to the Taj Mahal Gardens

A Cycad for the Gauhara Begum

This cycad is for Gauhara Begum, the daughter of Mumtaz Mahal. The mother died in childbirth and the Taj was built in her memory. Gauhara lived to the age of 75.