nyagrodha tree ［尼拘律樹・尼倶類樹］ (;  nikuritsu-ju or nikurui-ju): A tree cited in Buddhist works, often as a symbol for great size. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom by Nāgārjuna (c. 150–250) states that the nyagrodha tree is large enough to provide shade for more than five hundred carts. The Fourfold Rules of Discipline describes a scene in which the people take rest under a nyagrodha tree located near Kaushāmbī in India, under which they also fit their elephants and horses and the carts they are drawing. The nyagrodha tree also symbolizes the principle that a seemingly insignificant cause can produce a great effect, just as the tiny seed of the nyagrodha develops into an expansive tree. The nyagrodha tree is identified with the banyan tree found in tropical and subtropical Asiatic regions, which is around thirty meters tall. Its abundant foliage offers cool shade from the tropical sun, and its branches send shoots down to the earth that take root and form new trunks, enabling one tree to expand outward.