This particular forest covering over 19,000 square meters is located in a region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, east of the Kadiri Forest Reserve. The curious thing is that this wooded mass is composed solely and exclusively by a single tree.
The tree is known as Thimmamma Marrimanu and belongs to the so-called banyan or fig tree of Bengal (ficus benghalensis), an endemic species of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.
Banyan trees, which also include other species, are trees that develop in an unconventional way: from top to bottom. The seeds germinate in the cracks of the bark of another tree, growing until the aerial roots form a pseudotronco that ends up devouring the host tree and expanding little by little until creating an amalgam of incredible branches and trunks.
In itself, the host tree finishes its days asphyxiated by the banyan. The branches, which extend horizontally, in turn create new aerial roots that, due to gravity, eventually touching the ground and forming new supplementary trunks.
A record tree
Leaving aside the religious details, the Thimmamma Marrimanu located in the Kadiri reserve is a record-breaking tree. It has a glass that covers 19,107 square meters of surface, hence it seems to form an authentic forest and has been inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the largest arboreal specimens in the world.