Curtain Fig National Park, near Yungaburra on Atherton Tableland., Queensland, Australia

Curtain Fig National Park, just outside Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland, in Queensland, Australia. Curtain Fig National Park protects an endangered mabi forest and a large green fig tree (Ficus virens) which uniquely extends a curtain of aerial roots 15 meters down to the forest floor. This fig’s roots strangled the host tree causing it to fall into a neighbor. The 500-year-old strangler is about 50 meters tall and 39 meters around. Awkward boulders kept settlers from clearing this small patch of the Atherton Tablelands for agriculture. Much of the rainforest around Cairns has been transformed by sugarcane fields and cattle ranches.

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Filename: 23AUS-0571.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size: 5472x3648 / 12.1MB; http://www.photoseek.com/; Atherton Tablelands PhotoBest Plantae plants trees
Contained in galleries: Highlights 2023, 2023 Apr: AUSTRALIA + INDONESIA, AUSTRALIA: QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA: favorites

Curtain Fig National Park, just outside Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland, in Queensland, Australia. Curtain Fig National Park protects an endangered mabi forest and a large green fig tree (Ficus virens) which uniquely extends a curtain of aerial roots 15 meters down to the forest floor. This fig’s roots strangled the host tree causing it to fall into a neighbor. The 500-year-old strangler is about 50 meters tall and 39 meters around. Awkward boulders kept settlers from clearing this small patch of the Atherton Tablelands for agriculture. Much of the rainforest around Cairns has been transformed by sugarcane fields and cattle ranches.