# Strangler fig

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[[Image:Ficus watkinsiana on Syzygium hemilampra-Iluka.jpg|thumb|210px|''[Ficus watkinsiana](/source/Ficus_watkinsiana)'' on ''[Syzygium hemilampra](/source/Syzygium_hemilampra)'', [Australia](/source/Australia)]]

'''Strangler fig''' is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species in the genus ''[Ficus](/source/Ficus)'', including those that are commonly known as [banyan](/source/banyan)s.

==Species==
Some of the more well-known species are:
* ''[Ficus altissima](/source/Ficus_altissima)'' – southern China and tropical Asia
* ''[Ficus aurea](/source/Ficus_aurea)'' – Florida, the Caribbean and Central America
* ''[Ficus benghalensis](/source/Ficus_benghalensis)'' – Indian subcontinent
* ''[Ficus benjamina](/source/Ficus_benjamina)'' – tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia
* ''[Ficus burtt-davyi](/source/Ficus_burtt-davyi)'' – southeastern Africa
* ''[Ficus citrifolia](/source/Ficus_citrifolia)'' – Florida and tropical America
* ''[Ficus craterostoma](/source/Ficus_craterostoma)'' – tropical and southern Africa
* ''[Ficus henneana](/source/Ficus_henneana)'' – northern and eastern Australia
* ''[Ficus macrophylla](/source/Ficus_macrophylla)'' – eastern Australia and [Lord Howe Island](/source/Lord_Howe_Island)
* ''[Ficus microcarpa](/source/Ficus_microcarpa)'' - southeast Asia to Australia
* ''[Ficus obliqua](/source/Ficus_obliqua)'' – [Maluku Islands](/source/Maluku_Islands), [Papuasia](/source/Papuasia), northern Australia and southwestern Pacific
* ''[Ficus tinctoria](/source/Ficus_tinctoria)'' – Indian subcontinent and southern China to northern Australia and southwestern Pacific
* ''[Ficus virens](/source/Ficus_virens)'' – tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia and western Pacific
* ''[Ficus watkinsiana](/source/Ficus_watkinsiana)'' – eastern Australia

These all share a common "strangling" growth habit that is found in many tropical forest species.<ref>Zhekun, Zhou & Michael G. Gilbert (2003) "Flora of China" (Moraceae) 5: 21–73. [http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/china/mss/volume05/Moraceae.pdf hua.huh.harvard.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901100148/http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/china/mss/volume05/Moraceae.pdf |date=2006-09-01 }}</ref>{{Failed verification|reason=The source does not discuss the definition of the strangling habit, nor its prevalence |date=October 2024}} This growth habit is an adaptation for growing in dark forests where the competition for light is intense. These plants are [hemiepiphyte](/source/hemiepiphyte)s, 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.<ref>Serventy, V. (1984). ''Australian Native Plants''. Victoria: Reed Books.</ref><ref>"Light in the rainforest" 1992 Tropical topics. Vol 1 No. 5, [http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p00820ar.pdf epa.qld.gov.au] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701035940/http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p00820ar.pdf |date=2007-07-01 }}</ref>

An original support tree can sometimes die, so that the strangler fig becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core.<ref name="LowmanRinker2004">{{cite book|author1=Margaret Lowman|author2=H. Bruce Rinker|title=Forest Canopies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F471I0uJv-8C&pg=PA180|year=2004|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-457553-0|pages=180–}}</ref>  However, it is also believed that the strangler fig can help its support tree survive storms.<ref name="RichardHalkin2017">{{cite journal |last1=Richard |first1=Leora. |last2=Halkin |first2=Sylvia |date=June 2017 |title= Strangler figs may support their host trees during severe storms |journal=Symbiosis |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=153–157 |doi=10.1007/s13199-017-0484-5|bibcode=2017Symbi..72..153R |s2cid=29202538 }}</ref>

==Uses==
After many decades spent living outdoors in the rainforests of northern [Queensland](/source/Queensland), [Australia](/source/Australia), hermetic [bushman](/source/the_bush) [Michael 'Tarzan' Fomenko](/source/Michael_'Tarzan'_Fomenko) (c.1930–2018) settled upon sleeping amidst giant strangler fig roots.<ref name = FR>{{cite news |last=Robson |first=Frank |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-real-life-tarzan-of-australias-deep-north-20110402-1csjp.html |title=The Real-Life Tarzan of Australia's Deep North |work=[The Sydney Morning Herald](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald) |date=2011-04-03 |access-date=2026-02-26 }}</ref><ref name = JV>{{cite news |last=Vyver |first=James |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-20/on-the-trail-of-michael-tarzan-fomenko/7858784 |title=On the trail of Michael 'Tarzan' Fomenko |work=[ABC News](/source/ABC_News_(Australia)) |date=2016-09-20 |access-date=2026-02-26 }}</ref> On occasions when [black snakes](/source/Pseudechis), [scrub turkey](/source/scrub_turkey)s and [goanna](/source/goanna)s were a threat or a nuisance, he would sleep up in the tree.<ref name="Radio_Earshot">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/earshot/finding-australias-tarzan/9273188 |title=Earshot: Finding Australia's Tarzan |date=2018-01-02 |type=Audio |publisher=[ABC Radio National](/source/ABC_Radio_National) |place=[Ultimo](/source/Ultimo%2C_New_South_Wales), [Sydney](/source/Sydney) |access-date=2026-03-07 |people=Melville, Kirsty; Vyver, James; McKellar, Phil; Taranto, Claudia; Fomenko, Inessa; Saffen, Karen; Wighton, Chris; Hunter, Ernest; Elliott, Sam; Dunne, Barbara; Patterson, Josh }}</ref>{{rp|02:35}}

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
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](/source/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
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist|ref=
<!-- <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jim|first=C.Y.|date=2018|title=Epiphytic strangler trees colonizing extreme habitats of building envelopes in Hong Kong|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0169204618305772|journal=Landscape and Urban Planning|language=en|volume=178|pages=281–291|doi=10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.07.003|s2cid=92651962}}</ref> -->
}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Strangler figs}}
* [http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/troprain.htm The Tropical Rain Forest], including photos of strangler figs
* [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-queen-of-trees-fig-trees-from-the-sacred-to-the-strangler/1353/ The Queen of Trees: Fig Trees – From the Sacred to the Strangler]
* [https://www.science.org/content/article/being-strangled-may-save-tree-s-life Being strangled may save this tree’s life]

{{Plant common name}}

Category:Ficus
Category:Epiphytes

[de:Feigen#Würgefeigen](/source/de%3AFeigen)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Strangler fig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangler_fig) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangler_fig?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.