3.4K views · 24 reactions | THE STRANGLER FIG Perhaps the most famous...

16K views · 49 shares | In order to survive in the dense tropical rainforest, the strangler fig offers its host trees a special and deadly embrace. The strangling process is slow and continuous. It helps renew the vegetation and keep the ecosystem balanced. #nature #cgtnnature #jianfengling | CGTN | Facebook

Ta Som Temple is best known for the giant strangler fig growing over its eastern gate, where tree roots and stone merge into a dramatic natural arch. | Bong Yan

🇺🇸The strangler fig trees are species whose seeds, germinated on tree branches after being transported by the wind or an animal, begin their vegetative life as epiphytes, although they only use their host as a support, not as food sustenance. As they grow, they develop long aerial roots that embrace the tree on their way to the ground. Eventually, they strangle and kill the host in their attempt to reach sunlight, which is quite scarce in the understory of the rainforest vegetation that is the