Excellent post and very interesting also. Thanks Prashant Sir for this upload. Never seen this before
Regards Prasad On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 6:31 AM, Balkar Singh <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > -- Prasad Kumar Dash Ecologist, Odisha, India email: [email protected] ph. 09437444241
