Species introCountry intro
Strangler Fig on Acuri palm tree
At first sight this just looks like an oddly shaped tree, but in fact this is an Acuri Palm tree being strangled by a Strangler Fig. The Strangler starts out as a parasite plant on the palm tree, growns downwards to root in the ground, and then upwards to compete for light. The host may or may not die in this process.
''Ficus aurea'', commonly known as the Florida strangler fig , golden fig, or ''higuerón'', is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet ''aurea'' was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.
''Ficus aurea'' is a strangler fig. In figs of this type, seed germination usually takes place in the canopy of a host.. more
