In a message dated 8/27/05 12:02:14 AM, Carl Morrow writes:
Parasitic plants have specialized structures that tap into the host plant
and steal water and or nutrients from the host plant's vessel system.** A
plant that is just using another for support and not sustenance is not parasitic.

Remember, I said "a sort of parasite." The strangler fig does more than just
use the host for support; it eventually kills it. There may be a technical
term for it, but it sounds sort of parasitic (in the philosophical sense) to me.

Our stranglers start off as seedlings in forks of branches and their roots
grow down to the soil.

They do a lot of things differently in South Africa. ;-)

I have grown a root-over-tree (as opposed to root-over-rock) using a dead
Olive stump and a living Natal Wild Fig (Ficus natalensis).

Wonder if Nick Lenz has tried that yet?
Iris*

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