Alamaram is Ficus benghalensis, the banyan — the fig that drops pillar roots and becomes a grove. Hindi bargad and Sanskrit nyagrodha are the same tree. It is not peepal (F. religiosa, drip-tip leaf) and not the dessert fig (F. carica).
- Botanical name
- Ficus benghalensis L.
- Family
- Moraceae
- Tamil
- Alamaram
- Hindi
- Bargad
- Sanskrit
- Nyagrodha
- Parts used
- Bark, Aerial roots, Latex (traditional lists)
- Habit
- Enormous strangling fig with pillar roots
- Last updated
- 2026-10-30
How to recognise Alamaram
Linnaeus published Ficus benghalensis. The family is Moraceae. It is a hemiepiphyte that can become a forest of trunks: broad leathery leaves with a blunt tip, milky latex, and prop roots that thicken into pillars.
A child sitting under both trees can learn the pair in an afternoon.
Tamil alamaram, Hindi bargad / bar and Sanskrit nyagrodha are the names. English banyan remembers the merchants who sat in its shade. Other large figs get the English word loosely.
A village platform tree and a botanical-garden specimen can be the same plant with different plaques.
Figs are small, paired, ripening red to scarlet. They are not a Smyrna dessert.
Bark and aerial-root powder in a tin are weak determinations. Name the living tree instead.
Latex is milky. That is a family mark, not a medicine.
Strangler habit on a host tree is how many start. The host may die. That is ecology, not a metaphor you need to swallow.
A village platform under one crown can look like a grove because pillar roots have become trunks. Count the canopy, not the pillars, if you are trying to decide whether two names on two plaques are one tree.
Peepal (F. religiosa) shares the family and the latex and still fails the leaf test: a long drip-tip is not alamaram. The dessert fig (F. carica) is a temperate crop with a different fruit story.
Traditional use of Alamaram
Hindu and village life
The tree is a meeting place and a sacred fig. Shade and assembly are the honest uses.
Living village and temple practice
Ayurveda
Nyagrodha bark and aerial root appear in those lists. Historical headings are not a modern claim.
Ayurvedic headings
Modern notes on Alamaram
A shade tree is not a supplement. Papers on bark exist and do not turn a banyan into a product here.
The practical modern issue is cutting pillar roots for a road, and unnamed Ficus powders.
Alamaram safety
Latex can bother skin and eyes.
Figs of this species are not a market dessert. Do not treat them as F. carica.
Do not give bark decoctions to children.
Ecology and sourcing
The tree is planted and protected and can crack masonry. Fruit feeds birds. Honesty is about not stripping a village tree for a tin.
The tree should stay standing.
Birds move the figs. A seedling on a wall is how many city banyans begin. That is a mason’s problem and a fig’s ordinary life, not a product story.
Related plants
Also in Moraceae
Questions about Alamaram
Is banyan the same as peepal?
No. Banyan is F. benghalensis, with pillar roots and a blunt leaf. Peepal is F. religiosa, with a long drip-tip.
What is the Tamil name of Ficus benghalensis?
Alamaram.
Are the figs edible like a market fig?
They feed birds. They are not Ficus carica. Do not treat a village banyan fruit as a Smyrna dessert.
Sources
- Ficus benghalensis L. — Plants of the World Online, Kew (search) (accessed 2026)
- Wikidata item Q1405636 (Ficus benghalensis)
Educational page about a plant. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an offer to sell. Traditional use is historical. If you need care, ask a licensed clinician. Questions: hello@meevamed.com.