Dear Prashant, fantastic upload, nice find. Regards. Dinesh
On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 11:20 PM, Prashant Awale <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Friends, > > This one is also called as "Ant Plant". > > Bot. name: *Hydnophytum formicarum * > Family: Rubiaceae > > I am thankful to Katarina ji, Ritesh ji and Karthigeyan ji for > identifying this plant. Also sharing the responses received from them.. > > A reply from Karthigeyan ji: > "Dear all, > Katarina is 100% correct. This is *Hydnophytum formicarum* (Rubiaceae) > the famous ant plant. This plant mostly occurs in Mangrove trees but i have > noticed them also in high altitude areas like Mount Harriet, Mount ford and > Saddle peak in Andaman Islands. This is a very interesting plant having a > bulb with numerous channels in it housing ant colonies. The ants in turn > helps to protect herbivory to some extent but the main advantage to the > plant if the excreta and other residues left but ant provides nutrition to > the plant. > Thanks and regards, > Karthi" > Thanks, Dr.K. Karthigeyan > > > A reply from Dr Ritesh Choudhary. > . > Katrina ji is right! > > This is *Hydnophytum formicarum* of Rubiaceae. Popularly known as 'Ant > Plant'. (Myrmecodia tubers are spiky). > > Recently I came across this plant in Vietnam where it is listed under > the threatened category. It is distributed from Andaman islands to S. > Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and > Australia. > > This plant is of interest to botanist and ecologists owing to the > symbiotic association of ants and the plant. > > Regards, > Ritesh. > > Regards > Prashant > >
