Like the town itself, the survival of Lahaina's 150-year-old banyan tree is now in question, its limbs scorched by flames that have wiped away generations of Hawaii history.
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- For generations, the banyan tree along Lahaina town's historic Front Street served as a gathering place, its leafy branches unfurling majestically to give shade from the Hawaiian sun. By most accounts, the sprawling tree was the heart of the oceanside community — towering more than 60 feet and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre.
"There is nothing that has made me cry more today than the thought of the Banyan Tree in my hometown of Lahaina," wrote a poster identifying herself as HawaiiDelilah on X, formerly known as Twitter.The 150-year-old banyan tree on Lahaina town's historic Front Street in February 2018.Tiffany Kidder Winn, who surveyed the damage in Lahaina on Wednesday, walked by the tree and saw hope in its charred branches. Maybe it will survive, she thought.
The enormous tree has many trunks. Aerial roots dangle from its boughs and eventually latch onto the soil to become new trunks. Branches splay out widely and become roosting places for choirs of mynah birds.
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