Strangler fig

Ficus watkinsiana on Syzygium hemilampra, Iluka, Australia

Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, including among many other species:

• Ficus altissima
• Ficus aurea, also known as the Florida strangler fig
• Ficus barbata, also known as the bearded fig
• Ficus benghalensis
• Ficus burtt-davyi
• Ficus citrifolia
• Ficus craterostoma
• Ficus tinctoria
• Ficus macrophylla
• Ficus obliqua
• Ficus virens
• Ficus watkinsiana

They all share a common "strangling" growth habit that is found in many tropical forest species, particularly of the genus Ficus.^[1] This growth habit is an adaptation for growing in dark forests where the competition for light is intense. These plants begin life as hemiepiphytes, when their seeds, often bird-dispersed, germinate in crevices atop other trees. These seedlings grow their roots downward and envelop the host tree while also growing upward to reach into the sunlight zone above the canopy.^[2][3]

An original support tree can sometimes die, so that the strangler fig becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core.^[4] It is also believed that the strangler fig can help the support tree survive storms.^[5]

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Strangler figs.

A strangler fig sapling starts to grow on a tree, roots can be seen  Old strangler fig in the final stage, Costa-Rica, Pacific  A strangler fig. The supporting tree, now dead can also be seen. Photo from Kannavam forest  A columnar tree formed by a strangler fig after the central tree has died. The tree is hollow as seen in this photograph from below.

References

External links

• The Tropical Rain Forest, including photos of strangler figs
• The Queen of Trees: Fig Trees—From the Sacred to the Strangler
• Being strangled may save this tree’s life