In the rainforest in southwest China's Yunnan Province, fig trees function like big bullies in the competition for sunlight, rain water and nutrition.
Lofty fig.
Fig trees usually grow on other big trees and gradually wrap up the host tree with their aerial roots until the host dies of insufficient nutrition.
View from inside a lofty fig.
Lofty fig.
When their seeds fall into the rock gaps of karst landform, retreating is apparently not an option. The aerial roots intertwine with rocks or grow downward from the rocks, forming a spectacle called waterfall tree.
The aerial roots of fig trees wrapped around karst rocks.
A lofty fig wrapped around another tree.
Waterfall tree.
(All photos by CGTN's Zhang Hao)
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