182 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



year it breaks out into bloom, but with the rising 

 sun sheds or folds up its flowers. Often a great 

 deal of dew condenses on the blossoms just before 

 dawn. When they close up, this moisture falls as 

 a miniature shower. 



The strangling fig of Mexico and other tropical 

 countries belongs to the class of plant murderers. 

 It is an epiphyte or plant which perches on an- 

 other. Its seeds float about in the air until they 

 find lodgment on some unoffending tree-neighbour. 

 Forthwith they sprout and push thick amorphous 

 roots down to the ground. At this stage, the fig 

 looks for all the world like some thick liquid flowing 

 down the invaded tree. With roots firmly estab- 

 lished in the ground, the intruder commences a cam- 

 paign of active development and literally chokes 

 and strangles its victim to death within the tube 

 of its own body. Often the root connection with 

 the ground is entirely broken and the murderer 

 thrives entirely on the substance of its victim, press- 

 ing so tightly as to stop the flow of sap. 



The banana with propriety could be called "the 

 tree that grows while you wait." Under ordinary 

 conditions this luxurious tropical resident develops 

 from a tiny little "sucker" to tall spreading matur- 

 ity in a single year, but it is capable of still greater 

 efforts when necessary. 



