Giant Australian Rubber Tree of Jardim Antonio Borges

In the Azores this is an Australian rubber tree. Botanists know it as a Moreton Bay Fig, and the regional government's own sheet on the Jardim António Borges simply calls it colossal. That sheet, from the Azorean environment directorate, singles it out for its fantastic aerial roots and counts it among the largest and oldest trees on the garden's botanical route. The fig grows in the south-east part of the garden, along the Central Alley, and carries a botanical label, so it is not hard to find. Its roots are the point. A Moreton Bay Fig lets them down from its branches. Nobody has published its girth or height, so the word colossal is the only measurement on record. The garden around it was laid out between 1858 and 1861, with planting plans running through the 1860s, and it has belonged to Ponta Delgada's council since 1957. That makes it tempting to date the fig to the first planting. No source we have found does, so its age stays open. If you know when it went in, tell us. It is good company. The same sheet names a Cook Pine by the tea house, a Bunya Pine, a large jacaranda and a cork oak sheltering an old royal coach. Entry is free, and the garden is about ten minutes on foot from the Portas da Cidade in the centre of Ponta Delgada.