When in 1863 the architect Filippo Basile designed and built the Giardino Garibaldi garden over the former swamp connected to the Palermo Marina (named Piazza Marina today), a Ficus Macrophylla Subsp. Columnaris (Moreton bay fig) was also planted. According to the Accademia dei Georgofoli (an historic Florentine academy specialized in forestry), with its 10,000-m2 (almost 12,000 yd2) crown it is the largest tree in Europe. Evidently this banyan tree has found the perfect environment to grow exaggeratedly and even envelop and destroy the other plants that unfortunately grew next to it. Its growth pattern is simple: long lianas (the famous vines Tarzan swung on) extend from its side branches and, once they reach the ground, they become enormous “columns”. The latter support their branches, which may thus keep on growing for meters and meters. No fighting for the shade here.
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