Amphan storm: World’s largest, 342-year-old banyan tree damaged

342 years old World’s greatest Banyan Tree is damaged by Cyclone in Howrah Botanic Garden .A major tourist attraction of Howrah Biological Park in West Bengal, has been badly damaged. The Amphan Cyclone has damaged a tree in the park, which is about 342 years old and has become the world’s largest banyan tree.Similarly, two of the trees in the park, Oliya kaspidata, have fallen into oblivion. Both these trees are brown olive or Indian olive trees, says Shivakumar, a scientist at Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Biological Park and Allahabad-based Botanical Survey of India.

The world’s largest banyan tree is about 342 years old at Howrah Biological Park. Its circumference is approximately 1.08 km. Shivakumar informs that its twigs were removed for the first time in 1925.The same tree image is used by the Botanical Survey of India as its logo and the banyan tree is accepted as the country’s national tree.