The City Tree

Ficus lacor is a tree with deciduous leaves，of banyan genus of the mulberry family.With its deep roots，strong trunk，and thriving branches and leaves，it hasgreat vitality，grows fast，and enjoys a long life.The tree can grow on thin soil in hot，damp climate，and is pollution resisting.It can even grow well on highcliffs.

There are many places in Chongqing that are named”huangjue”or，as the local people pronounce it，“huangguo”，after the tree.An ancient book Shui Jing Zhu（A Record of Rivers）of the Northern Wei Dynasty（386-534 A D），noted，“the water of the Yangtze then goes east through the Huangjue Gorge known as Tongluo Gorge today.”And in the Tu Jing（A Book of Pictures）of the Song Dynasty（960-1279）there is the description”At the foot of Tushan Mountain，there are huangjue ficus lacor trees；and below the trees there is the Huangjue Ferry Crossing”.In Chongqing today，there are quite a number of places named after the tree：Huangjueya，Huangjueping，for instance.The ficus lacor was officially made the city tree of Chongqing in 1986.

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