Excellent Most interesting finding of the family week. Thanks Prashant Ji On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 11:39 PM, Dinesh Valke <[email protected]>wrote:
> 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 >> >> > -- Regards Dr Balkar Singh Head, Deptt. of Botany and Biotechnology Arya P G College, Panipat Haryana-132103 09416262964
