Die Ficus Die!

[miamicuse]

Saw this palm on the street in Fort Lauderdale.

Looks to be a Ficus that went up along side the palm, then someone didn't quite like it and separated the ficus at it''s ankle.

Looking up the Ficus wrapped around the palm in a coil...and a longitudinal cut was made to separate the Ficus vertically.

Will the Ficus die or will it find a way?

[John2468]

This looks to be a species of strangler fig, the seed sometimes gets caught in the palm fibers and germinates in the right conditions. The roots would eventually make its way down to the soil and expand. This is where it gets the name strangler fig. I usually see them regrowing aerial roots from the roots that were cut and find its way back into the soil. Since it looks like it’s not the case in this situation because the leaves were cut, it doubt it would regrow.

[Palmarum]

It will certainly slow down the Fig of Death...

Did you notice any chemical, maybe blue in color, added to the ficus stump at the bottom? Some like to add a vegetation killer to their hatchet jobs to keep certain things from growing back. There is a good chance the ficus is knocked back for good, but some regrowth might happen at the bottom of the cut or the stump. They can lay dormant then poof... new reaching, strangling appendages... like a zombie.

I rarely see any work done to try and save a public palm in this situation. It is very nice to see someone took the time.

Ryan