Living root bridge

Uncommon card · No. 181403

Living root bridges are a kind of tree shaping in which rivers are spanned by bridges formed out of the roots of ficus plants. Due to their being made from living, growing trees, they "show a very wide variety of structural typologies, with various aspects of particular bridges resembling characteristics of suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges, arches, trusses, and simply-supported beams." They are common in the Indian state of Meghalaya. The structures are handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees (Ficus elastica) by the Khasi and Jaiñtia peoples of the mountainous terrain along the southern part of the Shillong Plateau. Most of the bridges grow on steep slopes of subtropical moist broadleaf forest between 50 and 1,150 m (160 and 3,770 ft) above sea level. As long as the tree from which it is formed remains healthy, the roots in the bridge can naturally grow thick and strengthen. New roots can grow throughout the tree's life and must be pruned or manipulated to strengthen...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Arshiya Urveeja Bose, CC BY 2.0