Thursday, April 19, 2012

Ant plant

Ant plant is unusual and weird plant. Below is 1 of post from internet---> This "Ant Plant" is an interesting and unusual epiphytic plant whose swollen base also provides housing for ants. Myrmecodia tuberosa have thick unbranched stems with larger leaves. They are sometimes covered with unusual structures, called clypeoli (shield like structures surrounding each leaf base). Clypeoli may have spines to give the stem an armored appearance. These spines can be simple or branched. The base of the stem develops into a tuber. The tuber is a brown or greyish color. There are entrance holes on the surface that connect to galleries inside the tuber. These galleries are split up. There are smooth walled galleries where ants live, and are protected. The plants take advantage of the ant's waste products while the ants are thought to help protect the plant from predators. Many growers successfully use a mix of peat and perlite, or a combination of long-fiber sphagnum moss, chopped fir bark, and perlite which is very open but retains moisture. The plants are watered when the mix is just barely moist, because sphagnum is difficult to re-wet if it is allowed to become bone dry. See other 'Ant plant' - Hydnophytum. http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/MYRMECODIA_TUBEROSA.htm
I got below plant from a nice forumer on dec 2010.
Photobucket                     Photobucket Photobucket Here is how the plant looks like after almsot 2 years http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/caseyhoo/OthersPlants/IMG_3629.jpg http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/caseyhoo/OthersPlants/IMG_3627.jpg The plant grow nicely and few mths ago, it giving some seeds as well... Here is end result...

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