Strangler figs are hemiepiphytic -- they may begin life as epiphytes but after making contact with the ground they encircle their host tree and “strangle” it. This usually results in the death of the host tree, either through girdling or through competition for light. Strangler figs can also germinate and develop as independent trees, not reliant on the support of a host.

The strangler fig serves as an agent of both survival and destruction -- territory and power are measured by access to sunlight and the success of one results in the death of another. A reenactment of the civilizing mission, better known as imperialism, becomes visible by conspiring methods of competition. This competition leads to an environmental trauma that informs our position within certain systems of nature.

This plant species thrives in the geographical region known as the tropics, which faces a similar cultural dichotomy. Historical impressions of this environment encompass both paradisiacal imagery in addition to primitive and anarchic ideology. Biodiversity as iconography becomes more relevant as cultivation and culture become more intertwined.

The empire is constantly falling.