strangler fig

strangler fig

n. Any of several fig trees that grow at first as epiphytes on another tree and then send roots down to the ground around the trunk of the host tree, especially Ficus aurea, of southern Florida and the West Indies.

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[From the fact that it strangles its host.]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	strangler fig - a strangler tree native to southern Florida and West Indies; begins as an epiphyte eventually developing many thick aerial roots and covering enormous areasFicus aurea, Florida strangler fig, golden fig, wild figFicus, genus Ficus - large genus of tropical trees or shrubs or climbers including fig treesfig tree - any moraceous tree of the tropical genus Ficus; produces a closed pear-shaped receptacle that becomes fleshy and edible when mature
	2.	strangler fig - a common tropical American clusia having solitary white or rose flowersClusia major, Clusia rosea, pitch applegenus Clusia - tropical American aromatic trees or shrubs; often epiphytic; some stranglersstrangler, strangler tree - an epiphytic vine or tree whose aerial roots extend down the trunk of a supporting tree and coalesce around it eventually strangling the tree