Stock Photo - Bonsai plant of Banyan tree. Ficus Benghalensis.Banyan tree. Family: Moraceae. A large tree with thick foliage and aerial roots which enable the tree to spread sideways over a period of time. Bonsai (pronounced bone-sigh) is an ancient oriental horticultural art form. The word Bonsai literally means, in both Chinese and in the Japanese language, tree-in- a-pot. Originally developed in the Orient almost 2000 years ago, today the sublime art of bonsai is practiced throughout the world. Shape, harmony, proportion, scale are all weighed carefully as art, and the human hand combines this in a common cause with nature. A tree planted in a small pot is not a bonsai until it has been pruned, shaped, and trained into the desired shape. Bonsai are kept small by careful control of the plant´s growing conditions. Empress garden. Pune, Maharashtra, India.