The Maleny Strangler Strikes Again

Deep in the forests of Maleny is lurking a silent killer. The victims are often taken by surprise and their death is slow and drawn out.
But don’t worry too much, unless you do a Rip van Winkle and fall asleep for a few decades in the forest, these guys won’t be able to get a grip on you because these stranglers are Figs. 
The main ‘strangler figs’ include Ficus watkinsiana Watkins fig, F. macrophylla Morteon bay fig, Ficus obliqua Small-leafed fig and also to a lesser extent Ficus virens White fig, Ficus superba Deciduous fig and Ficus platypoda Rock fig.
What a superb evolutionary step these guys have taken in the competition for life in the forest. Whilst all other trees start their life on the forest floor this particular group of trees has figured out a short cut to the canopy. They have the amazing ability to germinate not just in soil but in moist patches of humus high in the forks of branches on existing trees. You can imagine that life in the tree tops must become very dry after months without rain like we have seen recently, but somehow fig seedlings survive on what little moisture is taken from the air or that collects on the trunk of their host. This ability also makes them one of the few plants that can strike on rocky outcrops where moisture collects in fissures – Ficus virens the White fig can commonly be seen on rocky outcrops beside waterfalls throughout the Range.
The next task for the fig to complete after germinating high in an existing canopy tree, is to send roots down to the ground, just enough leaf is produced to provide the energy for this process. The survival of the fig depends on its roots reaching the forest floor and finding permanent water. Once that connection of root to soil is made, the days of the host tree are numbered (well the decades anyway – time moves bit slower in the plant world). Soil contact and permanent water allows the fig to rapidly accelerate its growth and send more roots down, these roots eventually surround host tree giving it an unintentional hug of death! *
Mature Ficus sp. that apparently start life in such a gruesome manner go on to become fountains of life within forests, through the massive quantities of fruit they produce. The fruit themselves are unique in that the flowers are born internally within the ‘fruit’ and are pollinated by remarkable mini-wasps that in turn complete their lifecycle within the ‘fruit’. The fruit provide a life sustaining supply of food to numerous birds and animals and are sometimes born in quantities that could possibly be estimated not by the kg but by the ton.
However before you race in to Barung and buy a fig to plant in your backyard, consider that amazing root system that these plants have and what they may do to your/or your neighbours drains or foundations. Their root systems can be expansive and are great at holding landscape together, but putting one in your backyard is like trying to keep an emu in a budgie cage – sooner or later something is going to give!
Acreage’s are best for these guys and they are one of those amazing plants that once established are incredibly hardy and will live on for centuries. Help make the future a better place and find a place in your world for a fig.
*Gosh it’s easy to slip into the ‘natures a battle field’ descriptions of natural processes. After watching obviously one too many of the Crocodile Hunter series (enforced upon me by my kids!) I imagine myself as an intrepid, if somewhat hyped botanist, battling through deep dark jungle, dodging flailing tendrils of lawyer cane, wrestling dangerous strangler figs and advising the viewers at home to never, ever try anything at home like this with their petunias.
 
by Spencer Shaw