What is the average life of banyan tree and lime tree?

There are many old Banyan trees in our countries which are more than 300 to 500 years old. There is a banyan tree in Indian Botanical Gardens, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. It is more than 550 years old. It is having a canopy of 19,107 square meters and its branches spread over 8 acres. It was also recorded as the biggest tree in 1989 in the Guinness Book of World Records.

So the average age of these banyan trees is in hundreds of years. There is no exact calculation in this regard as the banyan tree trunk is already covered with so many new branches and protrusions that it becomes difficult to find out its age with the conventional methods. Anyway, Banyan trees have a special characteristics of spreading in the large areas and making their canopy bigger and bigger. This makes them to stay for a longer time as new additions are always coming out of the main trunk. That is one reason of their longevity.

Lime trees come in various varieties under the common group of citrus trees and their average life is calculated around 50 years. This is true in case of many varieties.

The lime tree can live for an average of 50 years. If we take care of the tree properly from the beginning and if we see that there will not be any infection to the plant it may live up to 100 years. In our native place, there is a lime tree that is more than 80 years old. But as per the available information, the average life span is around 50 years only.

Coming to the Banyan tree, the minimum age is supposed to be around 300 years. But many trees go more than that age. There are trees which are 500 years old also. But the average life span as per the available reports is 400 years.

i) The banyan tree (Ficus Benghalensis): Banyan tree is the plant of immortality as it grows for centuries is one of a hundred species of the fig tree. It got its name by the Britishers when they found the Hindu traders or merchants that conducted business under the shade of the species. It is adopted as the national tree of India in 1950 and called vat-vriksha (In Sanskrit) and bargad( in Hindi) which is one from the 750 species of fig trees. The tree is associated with the god of death, Yama and as its association, it does not support rebirth i.e. it does not allow any other plant to grow to circle it.
- In 1989, the Guinness Book of World Records reported "Thimmamma's Banyan Tree" in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh to be more than 550 years old and that single tree covering 4.721 acres.
- The Banyan Tree of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden in Kolkatta is more than 250 years old and covering nearly 14,500 square feet (1,347 square meters) area and height of 80 feet (24 meters). These details were noted by Erin Alvarez and Bart Schutzman, both lecturers in the environmental horticulture department at the University of Florida.
- The average lifespan of the banyan tree is around 200 - 300 years as new branches cover the trunk making it difficult to find out its actual age through traditional method or calculation.

ii) Lime Tree (Rutaceae): Lime is a small tree that belongs to the citrus family with irregular branches and fragrant star-shaped, white or yellow flowers and star-shaped, white or yellow flowers. The tree normally has a height of 16 feet and produces fruit all year round but the majority is between May and September. India is the top producer of lime in the world as the tree can easily be grown through seed, it's cuttings or root sprouts. The average lifespan of a growing lime tree is 50 years and produces fruit between the age of 2 and 5 years and the most tree produces throughout their entire life.

The Banyan tree also known as the National tree has its average life span of around 325 years. Banyan trees are the biggest ones in terms of area coverage. One of the biggest one alive today is in Thimmamma Marrimanu located in AP covering 1.9 hectares ( 4.7 acres) and can shelter about 20,000 people.
This tree is capable of growing from any parts of the building and other structures of bridges.
In Ayurveda, it has assumed its great significance because of frequent usage in the disease relating to life style disorders.
In context of average life span of lemon tree, it is over 50 years but the life - span can be stretched to over 100 years with the following tips-
1) It must be located in such areas having sun exposure for more than eight hours each day.
2) The site should be chosen where the soil is not densely packed but should be loose in structure.
3) The soil must be supplemented with a citrus fertiliser.
This tree would start producing fruits once it attains the age of three years and would yield fruits till the end of its life - cycle.