Strangler fig

Habitat:

rainforest growing on limestone

Notes:

another hollow strangler fig. many times when I see a strangler fig with a guide they call it a parasite. this is not true. strangler figs do not get any nutrients from other trees. they begin life high up in the canopy, their seeds deposited by a bird who has eaten the fruit surrounding them. they grow 2 leaves and then send a root to the ground. once they enter the ground and start getting nutrients, they really take off and begin to strangle the tree they are on. I have seen many strangler figs, some small strangling a tree only a few feed wide, others strangling a tree more than 10' (3m) in diameter. they are all ficus but can be hard to narrow down to exact species.