An ideal plant to grow as a Bonsai due to its naturally twisting shape and aerial roots. It is one of the strangler figs and usually starts life as an epiphyte. The fruits are eaten by birds and mammals and then deposited faecally on tree branches or directly onto the ground where it has it own little package of compost to feed the emerging seedling. Seeds deposited on other trees then start to send out aerial roots that make their way down to the ground. Once established the twisty, twining roots will then literally strangle the host plant to death.
Very easy to grow as a houseplant and is low maintenance. The ovate leaves are dark green, glossy and evergreen and although they can appear anywhere up and down the trunk it looks best with the lower leaves removed. This shows off the twisted trunk and gives the top a nice, mounded green canopy effect.
Grow in a humus rich, moist but well drained soil in full sun and get it outside for the summer, it will love the fresh air. Bring the plant indoors before the first frosts and reduce watering for the winter. Feed once every 4 to 6 weeks with a standard liquid food between April through to October.
Sent as a young plant in a 7cm pot.
Additional photo By Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde
