Description
The Strangler Fig is a highly unique tree that grows in different varietals throughout tropical regions across the globe. In the struggle for sunlight and soil within tree-dense forests, the tree will begin its life on a host tree, slowly overtaking it and its resources.
The work opens with “Wasp,” describing the mutually dependent relationship between the tree and the fig wasp. A strangler fig can only be pollinated by the fig wasp, and the fig wasp can only be born in the flowers of the tree. Without each other, neither can survive.
Next will be “Epiphyte,” the class of plants that grow on the surface of other plants, taking in nutrients from the air, rain, or the host plant itself. The strangler fig sprouts upon a host tree, its roots moving ever slowly toward the ground. When they reach the ground, the fig will often kill its host tree.
The piece will end with “Host.” Unlike the mutual relationship of the fig tree and the fig wasp, the host tree is an unwilling partner. The strangler fig’s roots will continue to wrap around the host tree as they grow toward the soil. Once the roots are embedded in the soil, the host will often die from a lack sunlight and water, the strangler fig having completely overtaken it.
