Tree monster

by AnnaJo Vahle

Title

Tree monster

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

Medium

Photograph - Acrylic On Canvas

Description

I drive by interesting plant almost every day. This one is on Tropical Trail, Merritt Island, Florida. It is hugging a palm tree. I see them on many trees in the area.

This one often reminds me of a monster. You can imagine the face and the arms and or legs. Each angle is different and quite interesting.

I took this picture with my Nikon camera.

Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higueron. It is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. State of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. In figs of this group, seed germination usually takes place in the canopy of a host tree. The siddling living as an epiphyte until its roots establish contact with the ground. After that, it enlarges and strangles its host. Eventually, it becomes a fee-standing tree in its own right. Individuals may reach 100 feet in height. Like all figs, it has an obligate mutualism with fig wasps. Figs are only pollinated by fig wasps. Fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. The tree provides habitat, food and shelter for a host of tropical lifeforms. These include epiphytes in cloud fores and birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. The strangler fig is used in traditional medicine for live fencing as an ornamental and as a bonsai.

The fruit of ficus aurea is edible and was used for food by the indigenous people and early settlers in Florida. It is still eaten occasionally as a backyard source of naive fruit. The latex was used to make a chewing gum. It aerial roots may have been used to make lashings, arrows, bowstrings and fishing lines. The fruit was used to make a rose-colored dye.

Uploaded

October 14th, 2019

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