Strangler Fig is the common name for a number of tropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, namely:

• Ficus aurea, also known as the Florida Strangler Fig
• Ficus barbata, also known as the Bearded Fig
• Ficus watkinsiana
• Ficus obliqua
• Pohutukawa (Metrosideros robusta) in the warm-temperate rainforest of New Zealand

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 epiphytes, when their seeds, often bird-dispersed, germinate in crevices atop other trees. These seedlings grow their roots downward and envelope 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, leaving a "columnar tree", central core empty, of the Strangler Fig. Strangler figs can also leave trees hollow.

[edit] Gallery

hollow trunked Strangler Fig at Cape Tribulation, Australia	An example of the "strangler fig".	A strangler fig in Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland Australia.	A strangler fig "strangling" a boulder.
Ficus obliqua on Hawkesbury sandstone, Watagans National Park, Australia.	A strangler fig in BR Hills, Karnataka, India.	Strangler Fig on a Native Elm, Richmond River, Australia	Hollow base of a Strangler Fig, Tooloom National Park, Australia
Strangler Fig on an Australian Rosewood, Barrington Tops

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Strangler figs

• Strangler Fig photo: Florida; Article marietta.edu—"The Tropical Rain Forest"--4 Photos of Strangler Figs/Costa Rica, etc.
• Stranger Fig video; PBS.org

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