Colombia’s Largest Tree, So Big That It Has Grown Pillars To Support Its Branches

This gigantic-looking tree is a Ficus, also known as a fig. Regarded as Colombia’s largest tree, Ficus is allegedly 30 meters high and 75 meters in diameter. Some people in Latin America call it ‘The Tree That Walks”, because of its ‘feet’ with which it ensures its expansion. Indeed, the pillars it has grown are like limbs through which it advances to cover a larger area with its branches to receive the sun’s rays more directly or find more fertile land to feed on.

30 meters high and 75 meters in diameter

largest tree
Image credit: Eréndira Rodríguez

It is actually several trees

It all started when in 1964 the owner of the Alejandría farm wanted to protect a yellow cedar tree that he had planted. They placed six fig tree rods around the sapling to prevent the cattle from damaging the young cedar. But the opposite happened: instead of giving security to the cedar, the fig struts sprouted buds and then branches, which eventually ended up absorbing and devouring the yellow cedar.

largest tree
 Image credit: Viajar en Verano
Image credit: Viajar en Verano
Image credit: Wbeimar Muñoz Gonzàlez
largest tree
Image credit: Antonio Sáez