Strangler Fig

Strangler Fig on sabal palm in Monument Lake NP Campground in the Everglades

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a picture taken in late afternoon light at Monument Lake National Park Campground in Everglades National Park.

This is a strangler fig that has taken root on the side of a sabal palm tree. This sabal palm is acting as a host plant. Strangler figs begin life as epiphytes or air plants. You can see that this strangler fig began life when a bird dropped a strangler fig seed that stuck in a frond on this palm tree.

Being an epiphyte the seed germinated and lived as an air plant for several years as it developed a root system. Look closely and you can see where these aerial roots attach and wrap around the host tree at the same time that the plant itself starts reaching toward sunlight.

A little later you will see pictures that will help you understand why the strangler fig got its name.

Strangler fig on a sabal palm host plant at Monument Lake Campground in the Everglades

 

 

 

 

This strangler fig on another sabal palm tree at Monument Lake Campground got its start in life much further off the ground. This strangler fig tree germinated about 6-feet off the ground. You can see where the young epiphyte (air plant) started life here in this picture. You can see where the aerial roots began to wrap around the host plant then started making their way to the ground.

Since strangler figs begin life as epiphytes or air plants they do not need soil to survive and grow.

In the tropics many strangler figs and other members of the ficus tree family begin life in the canopy of the forest and spend many years thriving there as their aerial roots search for terrafirma

Strangler fig that started life 30-feet or more up in a large Australian Pine Tree

 

 

 

 

The large tree with the reddish trunk is an Australian Pine in Key West, Florida. The roots that look like muscular snakes are from a strangler fig tree that is growing high in the Australian Pine. You can see the aerial roots that the strangler fig is dropping to the ground. Once these aerial roots reach the ground they will grow larger and become woody. As they grow larger and become more woody they act like a trunk.

 

Strangler fig with aerial roots that are covering the host tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aerial roots of this strangler fig are completely enveloping the host tree. Over time it may become impossible to even find the host tree in this dense labyrinth of roots.

Strangler figs are a type of ficus trees that include banyan trees as well.

 

Strangler fig roots completely enveloping a host tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this picture you can see the strangler figs roots as they wrap around the host tree.

 

You can see how this particular type of ficus tree has gotten the nomen of strangler fig.