One of the most awe-inspiring sights for Hong Kong treelovers is the city’s numerous ‘walled trees,’ which grows on many of the retainer walls built to hold back landslides on the city’s many slopes, particularly on Hong Kong Island.
These typically result in stunning root patterns that resemble abstract expressionist paintings, seemingly random organic lines that yield natural formations that appear to conceal the secrets of mother nature.
I haven’t been able to unravel the meaning behind the root patterns, but they are stunning in their broad strokes and complex lines, which really evoke so many aspects of, to borrow a phase from Douglas Adams, ‘life, the universe and everything.’
This particular art piece of nature is from the roots of a Big-leaved Fig (ficus virens) on display on May Road, on the wall that separates it from Old Peak Road. They are well worth a visit, but are really come alive after a rain shower when the contrast of each limb glistens, almost sparkles, to form its elaborate mosaic.
Categories:Big-leaved Fig, hong kong tree database, Street trees, tree walks, treelover, urbantrees, Urbantrees of Hong Kong
Urbantrees of the World 
Don’t many of the roots follow the contours in the wall, and the contours of the mortar between the stones?
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Indeed.. But many have their own path, which makes it still kind of random 😁
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Well, they are roots. We can not expect them to be too regimented.
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