Editing Strangler fig

[[Image:Ficus watkinsiana on Syzygium hemilampra-Iluka.jpg|thumb|210px|''[[Ficus watkinsiana]]'' on ''[[Syzygium hemilampra]]'', [[Australia]]]]

'''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 [[banyan]]s.

==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.<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]]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|s2cid=29202538 }}</ref>

==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]], 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/episodes/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]]