Base of ancient rainforest tree with parasitic strangler fig roots leading down into the soil. Strangler figs, Ficus sp, have a successful adaptation for growing in dense rainforest. They begin as a small epiphyte growing high on a branch of a tree where light is abundant. They then send aerial roots down which eventually reach the ground and take hold in the soil. Then the roots fuse together and the fig tree eventually surrounds the host tree which dies and leaves a hollow core within the Ficus.