Bo-tree

Bo-tree, the name given in Ceylon to the PIPAL or PEEPUL (q.v.) of India (Ficus religiosa). It is held sacred by the Buddhists, and planted close by every temple. The Bo-tree of the sacred but ruined city Anuradhapura, 80 miles N. of Kandy, is in all probability the oldest tree in the world. It is said to have been planted in 288 B.C., as a branch of the tree under which Gautama sat when he became Buddha. Sir James Emerson Tennent believed that the tree was in 1859 really of the wonderful age of 2147 years. Its leaves are carried away as treasures by pilgrims. The main stem was broken off by a storm in October 1887, and the severed portion solemnly cremated with religious rites. See Ferguson, Ceylon in 1884.