If I asked you to draw a tree, you’d probably go one of two ways. Short trunk, triangle/cone up top, a la the Christmas tree. Or you’d go for the long trunk and a bushy crown, a la most deciduous trees. And my new single favorite tree (not to be confused with my favorite type of tree, the redwood, tall and mighty like me), the ficus benjamina, aka Java Fig aka ficus, in the Peradeniya Botanical Garden in Sri Lanka would yawn and bemoan your lack of imagination. Relatively straight branches? One trunk? Ha and double ha! Whether through natural layering or targeted horticulture (I really wish I knew, but I haven’t been able to find any English language info on the tree), this bad boy has three or four trunks and accompanying root systems, all of which remain physically connected by branches which are oblong-ish, almost rectangular in shape, and nearly a meter in height. And the branches themselves? They go every which way but straight, all curves and no angles, snaking their way up to about 30 meters tall. Medusa has a poster of this tree hanging on her wall with the motivational title “Hair Goals”.

Did you know that the chicken is currently the closest living relative to the T-Rex? Well, now you do. The next time you look at the tiny ficus in the corner of your living room, know that your ficus is a chicken to my Java Fig’s T-Rex. 

Trees are amazing. Read “Overstory” or “The Secret Lives of Trees”. A tree will never be just a tree again.