This rainforest tree (brownish bark) is in the embrace of a strangler fig (light gray). Most canopy trees seedlings growing on the forest floor need some luck to reach a mature size; they need a tree fall to open a gap in the canopy. However this fig uses a different strategy. A strangler fig succeeds when its seeds are dispersed into the crown of another tree. By germinating aloft, the fig starts out in the canopy. The fig roots grow down the tree trunk, branching and fusing, and as they thicken they begin to strangle the host tree. Aerial roots (left) may grow down to the forest floor and thicken into massive prop roots. Ultimately the fig may kill and replace the host tree.