16 City Trees
Photos by Marla Eddy
The Kowloon Park Ficus
This Ficus microcarpa has been supported in an
extraordinary way to prolong its life. The removal
of large trees is very controversial in some areas
of Hong Kong, so trees that may be over mature
or in very poor condition are sometimes main-
tained at great expense.
In the case of this particular tree in Kowloon Park, it
is completely surrounded by a massive steel struc-
ture that extends into the tree's canopy. Many of
the branches are also supported by a web of straps
and cables. I was unable to inspect the tree from
a better vantage point, as the public is completely
restricted from the area underneath the canopy.
In Kowloon, an attempt to stabilize Ficus microcarpa by growing
aerial roots
One of the more common tree spe-
cies in Hong Kong's urban forest is the Chinese
banyan (Ficus microcarpa). This tree is planted
extensively along roads and in heavily trafficked
pedestrian areas. Along with efforts to stabilize
these trees with cables and support structures,
many Chinese banyan trees can be seen with
their aerial roots being guided to bamboo poles
filled with soil. This is apparently in hopes of sta
-
bilizing large branches, many of which show signs
of decay. These trees are also commonly found
growing on concrete walls, their aerial roots snak-
ing through cracks and breaks in the structures
and eventually completely covering them.
