Strangler figs - Banyan, Peepal on Palymra palm

[raghu ananth]

Strangler figs - Banyan, Peepal on Palymra palm

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Palmyra palm, Borassus flabellifer

This majestic palmyra palm is huge, strong and  the tallest I have ever seen.

The figs, the Peepal  and the Banyan twine over the 80-100-years-old palmyra tree. 

As can be seen, the Peepal tree is the first to entangle the palymra and has plastered itself firmly around  the Palmyra palm- forming a  cramped basket.  On top of the peepal  is another of the mighty kind - the Banyan. Note the bark portions in the of the palm projecting outside. Probably calling "Save me"

I am yet to witness a palmyra crushed completely because of a strangler. Will both these Primary Hemiepiphytes together be able to bring down the strong palmyra ?

Near Sadras Dutch fort, 

Old Mahabalipuram road

~ 90 kms from Chennai, Tamil Nadu

http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix/browse_thread/thread/da3c831d57218f0c?hl=en

Regards

Raghu

27 April 20101

[tanay bose]

Again a nice set of photos
TAnay

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[Neil Soares]

Hi Raghu,   Beautiful photographs !!! The answer to your question is in a mail I had posted on this site in April 2008. Am reproducing it below.                       Regards,                         Neil Soares.                                                           April 2008   Hi Mr Garg, Sibdas and Dr. Barve,         In the tropical rain forests, strangler figs start their lives as epiphytes in the canopy approximately 200 feet above the ground. [Our specimens in the Indian sub-continent are dwarfed by their tropical counterparts.] Once it has established itself it sends a root abruptly down to earth. Soon more roots are sent down the trunk of the support tree, plastered against its trunk. In extreme forms of stranglers the roots coalesce to form a cramped basket around the tree trunk. Then as the tree attempts to grow they crush it to death. The strangler also affects the support tree by overshadowing it with its dense foliage thereby interfering with its photosynthesis and competing with its roots for nutrients and water.       The strangler fig impedes expansion of the tree which is absolutely necessary for the trees survival as in the trunk new vessels must periodically replace dying ones. If rings of vessels cannot be added by increasing trunk girth, nutrients and water cease to flow.       This is why strangler figs seldom kill palm trees as palms have thick, hard barks and do not need to grow in diameter to replace their vessels.        The Pipal tree seems especially malicious. Starting as an epiphyte, it drives roots into the host, literally tearing it apart. The tree corpse, cradled in the arms of its slayer then rots and falls away.         At my farm at Shahapur [near Bombay], I have an old Banyan tree that started life as a strangler as evidenced by the void left behind where the supporting tree once stood. [Have not been able to establish the identity of the original tree though].        Am sending a few photographs as attachments.                    With regards,                      Neil Soares. --- On Sat, 5/29/10, raghu ananth <ragh...@yahoo.com> wrote: