Banyan 榕樹 ---The Economist 周刊用榕樹( Banyan)作為其亞洲的政治和文化的專欄名稱

 The Economist 周刊用榕樹(  Banyan)作為其亞洲的政治和文化的專欄名稱. 它指的當時不過我們習見的榕樹  而是印度次大陸的榕樹

About Banyan

Analysis of Asian politics and culture, from our Banyan columnist and other correspondents. Named for a tree whose branches have sheltered great ideas

 banyan

榕樹的拉丁文為banyan，在西方這個名字多指來自印度及孟加拉等地的孟加拉榕；但在中國及亞洲等地則多指細葉榕。由於它們同屬榕亞屬，並且有相近的生活周期及氣根等特徵，因此榕樹現多作為桑科榕屬下榕亞屬的簡稱。

Etymology

The name was originally given to F. benghalensis and comes from India where early travellers observed that the shade of the tree was frequented by banias or Indian traders.^[7]
In the Gujarati language, banya means "grocer/merchant," not "tree." The Portuguese picked up the word to refer specifically to Hindu merchants and passed it along to the English as early as 1599 with the same meaning. By 1634, English writers began to tell of the banyan tree, a tree under which Hindu merchants would conduct their business. The tree provided a shaded place for a village meeting or for merchants to sell their goods. Eventually "banyan" became the name of the tree itself.




 

科學分類孟加拉榕（學名：Ficus benghalensis）為桑科榕屬的植物，原產於印度。樹高十至十五米，樹葉呈長橢圓形，葉端為尖狀。枝葉繁茂，向四方蔓生。
孟加拉榕在佛經稱為尼拘樹（梵語 nyag-rodha，巴利語 nigrodha），又譯尼拘陀樹、尼拘屢陀樹、尼拘律樹、尼俱盧陀樹等，現代漢語的近似音譯應為尼哿侯特。因樹形高大但種子細小，故佛典常用來比喻由小因而得大果報者。《大乘無量壽莊嚴清淨平等覺經》中，以「如尼拘樹，覆蔭大故」來比喻極樂世界菩薩的廣大智慧。《慧琳音義》卷十五解釋為（大五四·四〇二上）：『此樹端直無節，圓滿可愛，去地三丈余，方有枝葉，其子微細如柳花子。唐國無此樹，言是柳樹者，非也。』