디시디아 펙티노이데스-Dischidia pectinoides

 

디시디아 펙티노이데스

Dischidia pectinoides

국표에는 없다.

Sometimes called the “ant plant,” Dischidia pectinoides is a curious little specimen that belongs to the same family as milkweed. It is a family of oddballs: climbers and vines with swollen-pocket leaves that resemble ravioli. These pods are called bullate leaves. Their insides can be hollow (not filled with ricotta and spinach) or in the case of some milkweeds, holding sticky, milk-colored fluid. Dischidia pectinoides has leaves with hollow interiors. In its native jungles and rain forests, the leaves are home to ant colonies that help pollinate the plant in exchange for, well, room and board.

https://www.gardenista.com/posts/field-guide-dischidia-pectinoides-ant-plant-care/

 

Most of the leaves on Dischidia pectinoides are small leaves around 3/4 of an inch long by 3/8 on an inch wide, but on occasion they develop these monster ‘Ant Leaves’.  This Dischidia has developed a symbiotic relationship with with ants becoming an evolutionary marvel.  The ants will colonize these giant leaves that form hollow spheres which are inhabited by ants.  In turn the waste products from the ants fertilize the plant.  These clam-shaped, special leaves can be 3.5 inches long by 2.5 inches wide and 2 inches thick which can provide generations of ants with a completely waterproof home.

https://vermonthoyas.com/dischidia/dischidia-pectinoides/

 

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