Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species in the genus Ficus, including those that are commonly known as .
Species
Some of the more well-known species are:
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Ficus altissima – southern China and tropical Asia
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Ficus aurea – Florida, the Caribbean and Central America
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Ficus benghalensis – Indian subcontinent
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Ficus benjamina – tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia
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Ficus burtt-davyi – southeastern Africa
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Ficus citrifolia – Florida and tropical America
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Ficus craterostoma – tropical and southern Africa
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Ficus henneana – northern and eastern Australia
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Ficus macrophylla – eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island
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Ficus microcarpa - southeast Asia to Australia
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Ficus obliqua – Maluku Islands, Papuasia, northern Australia and southwestern Pacific
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Ficus tinctoria – Indian subcontinent and southern China to northern Australia and southwestern Pacific
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Ficus virens – tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia and western Pacific
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Ficus watkinsiana – eastern Australia
These all share a common "strangling" growth habit that is found in many tropical forest species.[Zhekun, Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert (2003) "Flora of China" (Moraceae) 5: 21–73. hua.huh.harvard.edu ] This growth habit is an adaptation for growing in dark forests where the competition for light is intense. These plants are , spending the first part of their life without rooting into the ground. 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.[Serventy, V. (1984). Australian Native Plants. Victoria: Reed Books.]["Light in the rainforest" 1992 Tropical topics. Vol 1 No. 5, epa.qld.gov.au ]
An original support tree can sometimes die, so that the strangler fig becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core.
Gallery
File:Strangler fig plant.jpg|A fig seedling with thread-like roots on an unknown host
File:Corkscrew - bald cypress and strangler fig.jpg|The trunk of a bald cypress, encircled by fig roots
File:Strangler_tree.jpg|A strangler fig. The supporting tree, now dead, can also be seen
File:Wuergefeige_2.jpg|Mature fig standing above the surrounding forest
File:Corkscrew - bald cypress with strangler fig inside.jpg|A cross section of a bald cypress at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, showing the fig roots inside it
File:Strangler fig inside.jpg|View looking through the hollow core of a fig after the host has died and rotted away
External links
