Council tree

The council tree employs a peculiar strategy in the battle for sunlight. Its seeds are carried by animals into the crowns of other trees. There, the seeds germinate, and whilst their green parts grow towards the sunlight, the roots extend downwards along the host plant and take root in the ground. Over the years, the host tree becomes completely encircled by the roots of the council tree, and its crown grows beyond that of the host tree. The ‘host tree’ is doomed to die; it rots and eventually collapses. Old strangler figs therefore have a hollow in their trunk.