Strangulation
This image shows the roots of a Florida Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) girdling a host tree at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (Florida). Stranglers start out as air plants (epiphytes), the host tree being unharmed (commensalism). Seeds, possibly carried by birds, germinate in branches of a host tree. Over months and years, the fig grows roots downward until reaching the ground. The strangling roots become profuse and eventually may kill the host tree.
This strange Florida native tree has flowers that are pollinated only by Fig Wasps, which can only lay eggs in fig flowers; a strange mutual partnership!
So , the Strangler Fig starts out commensalist, then a parasite, then a symbiont!
Strangulation
This image shows the roots of a Florida Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) girdling a host tree at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (Florida). Stranglers start out as air plants (epiphytes), the host tree being unharmed (commensalism). Seeds, possibly carried by birds, germinate in branches of a host tree. Over months and years, the fig grows roots downward until reaching the ground. The strangling roots become profuse and eventually may kill the host tree.
This strange Florida native tree has flowers that are pollinated only by Fig Wasps, which can only lay eggs in fig flowers; a strange mutual partnership!
So , the Strangler Fig starts out commensalist, then a parasite, then a symbiont!