Outdoors & Nature Insider

Strangler Fig at Fort De Soto County Park Credit: Kevin Mims

Sounds like something you would see in a horror movie, doesn't it?  Well, no need to worry - it's not that scary!

The Florida strangler fig is an interesting species. First, it starts out as an epiphyte, which is a type of living thing that attaches itself to another plant for support and usually does not kill the host. You might have heard the term "air plants," right?  Those are epiphytes! Some common types of epiphytes, or air plants, that you'll find in Florida are spanish moss, native orchids, ferns and bromielads.

So there the stranger fig sits, high up in the crook of a tree, as a young seedling. After some time the strangler fig starts sending down roots toward the ground, wrapping and winding their way around the host tree. Once the roots of the strangler fig have rooted, it becomes its own tree! The sad thing is that most of the time the host is overwhelmed by the strangler fig and dies.

After the strangler fig has overwhelmed the host, and the host tree has died and decomposed, in many cases all that's left is an empty void where it once was. 

Want to see a stranger fig for yourself?  You can find them in coastal areas, and they are really easy to spot along Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail) in the Everglades. There's a really large one on the Big Cypress Boardwalk at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. At Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County, a strangler fig can be found wrapping itself around a cabbage palm.

A little while ago, I wrote a post titled "Five Florida Trees You Should Know." Make sure to read that one as well - you guys are well on your way to becoming tree identification experts!