The Sycomore Fig Tree

Filed under: Knowledge

Trees and their stories have always fascinated me, and I admire great story tellers who tell the stories of some of the most magnificent trees on our planet. One such story is that of the Queen of Trees, the Sycomore Fig tree. I recently got to watch the evolutionary paradox and ecologically astound footprint of the Sycomore Fig tree through some excellent story telling in the documentary by filmmakers Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble.

It may be one of nature’s oddest couples: a tiny wasp that can barely be seen, and a giant fig tree, the sycomore, which shelters a remarkable menagerie of wildlife among its limbs. The wasp and the fig depend on each other for survival. Without the wasp, the tree could not pollinate its flowers and produce seeds. Without the fig, the wasp would have nowhere to lay its eggs.

You might be able to still catch this show on PBS or watch it on their website. This show definitely provides a great insight into the workings of the interrelationship between species, and in the end makes you wonder about what intelligence and workings at the cellular level makes all this possible at the evolutionary domain. Maybe recent studies at Rice University, about transfer of DNA between species by bacteria and viruses, might provide some answers to these questions.

Tree photo via Bionatics