The Figueira Gigante of Tijuca
over a centuryStrangler Figpin approximate
Which one is it? A short, thick, grooved trunk with aerial roots sprawled and interlaced around it, standing over the pavement in front of number 678, across from the SENAI building.
In October 1968 the state of Rio put this fig beyond the reach of a chainsaw. Decree E 2433 lists it as imune ao corte, immune from felling, which is a legal category the state heritage institute keeps for individual remarkable trees rather than for buildings. It has stood on the pavement of Rua Mariz e Barros ever since, in front of number 678, opposite the SENAI building. It is a strangler fig, a mata-pau, a plant that begins life in the fork of another tree and finishes by replacing it. This one has a short, thick, grooved trunk and a sprawl of aerial roots that have interlaced into something between a wall and a cage. The heritage catalogue calls it secular, centuries old, and puts no number on it, so neither will we. One source is all this tree has: a heritage catalogue entry naming the decree. What that leaves you with is a protection order from 1968 and an address you can go and test. Which is also the honest gap here. We have not found a dated sighting of it in recent years, only the listing, unchanged. If you walk down Mariz e Barros and it is still standing over the pavement, that is worth telling us, and so is the opposite.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. Tijuca neighbourhood; reachable by metro (Saens Peña or Afonso Pena stations) plus a short walk
The pin marks the right spot roughly, not the tree itself. It stands here, but we have not confirmed the precise position on the ground yet. Know exactly where it is?
- Species
- Strangler Fig (Urostigma sp.)
- Age estimate
- over a century
- Location
- Rua Mariz e Barros, 678, in front of the SENAI building, Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro (Tijuca)
- Access
- Free, a street tree visible and reachable from the public sidewalk at all times
- Getting there
- Tijuca neighbourhood; reachable by metro (Saens Peña or Afonso Pena stations) plus a short walk
Trees nearby
Ticking this one off, walks past several more, and your collection growing city by city: that is the Ancient Trees app.
Get the appThis page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.
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