Strangler figs start high in the canopy and may kill their host tree
Many rainforest figs begin as epiphytes: a bird drops a seed in a fork of a tall tree, and the seedling sends roots down the trunk toward soil while shoots climb for light.
Those roots thicken into a lattice that can girdle and shade the host. Eventually the original tree may die and rot away, leaving a hollow fig column standing alone.
Life sometimes climbs on life. A strangler fig is succession written in wood — ruthless, slow, and strangely architectural.
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