Bargad (Banyan Tree): Where It Grows in India and How to Plant India's National Tree

The banyan is native to the Indian subcontinent. In the wild it grows in monsoon and rain forests and favours humid places with well-distributed rainfall, but it is drought-hardy: it can withstand 4 to 6 dry months and, once established, needs only a moderate amount of water. It survives mild frost. It is a tree of low altitudes, usually 300 to 600 m and only rarely up to about 1,300 m.

• Grows well: the north-west dry zone, the northern plains, central India, the east, the north-east, the west coast, the east coast and the southern peninsula, planted with the local monsoon.
• With care: the Himalayan region, in warm foothills and valleys only, not in the higher hills.

It tolerates most soils and grows best on well-drained sandy loam. See Soil pH for the preferred range; test strongly alkaline soils before planting.

Few trees give as much shade or support as much wildlife. Its red figs feed many birds and bats.

The one real limit is size. It suits open fields, large campuses and village common land, not small gardens or roadside strips.