While I may not be the greenest guy around, I do enjoy beauty – it’s just that I tend to find it in close proximity to concrete and glass and cellular towers.  But there is one article of nature that never ceases to fill me with joy – the majestic Paniana (Indian Banyan Tree / Ficus benghalensis) in the Royal Grove at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, on Waikiki Beach.

My folks honeymooned at the hotel in the sixties, and it was ancient, then!  As a matter of fact, it was already a mature tree, when the hotel was being developed, in the 1920s, and the developers actually designed the hotel around the tree.  It’s magnificent.

It’s so big, in fact, that there are numerous electrical riggings (some 6” in diameter), running up its mighty trunk and out along the limbs, that light the huge Moroccan lamps that are suspended from its leafy branches.  But the riggings have been made unobtrusive, and blend in with the roots; because the Indian Banyan Tree features what are called aerial prop roots.  This means that as the tree grows taller and stronger, new roots will drop-down from the branches, to the earth, below; in order to kind-of mainline nutrients, directly up to that high branch.  These prop roots then form trunks, themselves, giving the look of these artery-like secondary and tertiary roots, built, as it were, from the top, down.

The Paniana is a bit of permanence in a constantly morphing world.  No matter how long I’m away, whether six months or six years, it’s the same as it ever was: A calm, timeless reminder of the frailty of man, and the strength of Mother Nature.

And now I’ve been able to introduce this ancient edifice of leaves and branches and trunks to my little niece and nephew.  And to commemorate the occasion, they snuggled right into the Paniana’s roots/trunks (with their Christmas Penguins, Pinky and Froster), and take a cute photo, to demonstrate the sheer size of this wonderful tree.

The Paniana
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel
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Get into it!