Text and images by Sarah Greenlees Starting as an epiphyte and often ending up as freestanding trees, strangler figs (genus ficus, subgenus urostigma) are dynamic and dramatic members of the forest structure, they can also be surprisingly architectural. Degrees of Enclosure Though all the forest provides shelter in some capacity, figs provide it in a very literal, enclosing fashion, at a series of scales. On the smallest scale, protective shells lined with spongy material and flowers provide shelter for tiny gall wasps....