strangler fig

Nice shot! This is one fascinating tree to be sure. Starts out as seedling in the arms of another rainforest tree. As it grows it sends down roots to the ground and anchors in. It adds more and more roots until it completely "strangles" the host tree. Eventually the host tree dies - either through constriction by the fig tree roots or perhaps because the fig tree takes over the crown and blocks photosythesis by the host. Either way the host dies. Stranglers might not be as bad as you think...they provide loads of nooks and crannies for nesting animals and they produce bumper crops of tasty fruits!