Strangler fig

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 banyans.

Species

Some of the more well-known species are:

Ficus altissima – southern China and tropical Asia

Ficus aurea – Florida, the Caribbean and Central America

Ficus benghalensis – Indian subcontinent

Ficus benjamina – tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia

Ficus burtt-davyi – southeastern Africa

Ficus citrifolia – Florida and tropical America

Ficus craterostoma – tropical and southern Africa

Ficus henneana – northern and eastern Australia

Ficus macrophylla – eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island

Ficus microcarpa - southeast Asia to Australia

Ficus obliqua – Maluku Islands, Papuasia, northern Australia and southwestern Pacific

Ficus tinctoria – Indian subcontinent and southern China to northern Australia and southwestern Pacific

Ficus virens – tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia and western Pacific

Ficus watkinsiana – eastern Australia

These all share a common "strangling" growth habit that is found in many tropical forest species. This growth habit is an adaptation for growing in dark forests where the competition for light is intense. These plants are hemiepiphytes, 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.

An original support tree can sometimes die, so that the strangler fig becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core. However, it is also believed that the strangler fig can help its support tree survive storms.

Uses

After many decades spent living outdoors in the rainforests of northern Queensland, Australia, hermetic bushman Michael 'Tarzan' Fomenko (c.1930–2018) settled upon sleeping amidst giant strangler fig roots. On occasions when black snakes, scrub turkeys and goannas were a threat or a nuisance, he would sleep up in the tree.