Indian fig

noun

1. a bushy or treelike cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, of central Mexico, having large yellow flowers and juicy, red, edible fruit.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Indian fig¹

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

This is clearest above Zafferana, where you’ll find an empty summer home, a van selling pistachio cream and Indian fig honey, and a blanket of black lava that coats the woodland like paint.

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And, always, winter’s fog and mist, one of Nepal’s seasonally distinct languages, shrouding the shrines in Pashupatinath, one of the world’s holiest Shiva temples, or cloaking a farmer by the valley’s sacred Indian fig trees.

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Deep in the night the massy locust sheds, Quench my hot limbs; or lead me through the maze, Embowering, endless, of the Indian fig; Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow, Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd, Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave, And high palmettos lift their graceful shade.

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The Banian or Indian fig tree, is perhaps the most beautiful and surprising production of nature in the vegetable kingdom.

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Trees have frequently been identified with gods: thus in the Panma Purána, the religious fig tree is an incarnation of Vishnu, the Indian fig tree of Rudra, and the Palasa of Brahma.

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