Before you get too excited, since the plant you're getting was grown from seed at a nursery or by a private grower, not wild collected in...Read More the field where it's native, it will not contain the host/symbiotic ant. Same goes for ant ferns, those chubby little ant plants, ant vines etc. Even the ones covered with specialty food nodules for the ants will not attract native ants to nest in it, and if they do they won't have the same relationship with the plant, they might even chew and damage it. The symbiosis takes millions of years of working together. About the only insect that will be attracted to live/breed in those dark humid chambers are cockroaches, especially in Florida. I love ant plants, have species from throughout the new and old worlds, but none of them is occupied by their symbiotic ants, I make up for the lack of ant waste with fertilizer. The risk of introducing new ant species to a vulnerable natural environment should keep everyone from trying to import them, plus it'll make your plant an ant-covered stinging mess with a distinctly bad odor (from never-ending waste and formic acid), do you really want that?
Do you know if the ants are agressive toward people and pets? I think the plant is beautiful and would consider getting one if it would...Read More survive in the winter ( I live in Boise, ID) and if my cat and dogs (both labs) wouldn't get terribly harmed by the ants if they got too close.
lisapb864
It's an easy plant to start from seed, since you scarify it. My seedlings are still a few centimeters high but they are doing quite well...Read More. The "bull horns" may injure distracted people, so be careful!
Boca Raton, FL (Zone 10a) | November 2004 | positive
According to killerplants.com, Acacia sphaerocephala is one of the five species known as Bee Wattle or Bull's-horn Acacia. The interestin...Read Moreg thing about these species is the "ant" relationship, which is mutualistic. Here's how it works: Pseudomyrmex ferruginea, the type of ant with these species, cannot survive without these trees; nor so can the tree or they fall victim to competition from other plants. One of the thorns is first colonized by a single queen ant, which chews a hole in the thorn near the tip. She lays 15 to 20 eggs eventually inside the thorn. Soon, as the colony starts to grow, the ants disperse and move to other thorns. The ant colony becomes agressive once the population of ants reaches around 400 members, and drive out other ant colonies and kill any insects foraging for food on the tree, to protect the tree. The ants act as caretakers for the tree, and clear the ground and keep it free of any other plants and even prune surrounding branches of other trees that threaten to outshade the acacia. Without the protection of the ant colony, the acacia tree would fall vulnerable to chewing insects such as beetles or caterpillars, and surrounding trees and shrubs would quickly outcompete the acacia without the maintnance work of the ants to keep the tree safe. The ants also recognize certain odors, such as when they become 'odor-sensitive' when humans or cattle are in the vincity of the tree, and the ants immeadiately swarm out to sting intruders if the tree is touched.
The relationship of the ants and the trees is really fascinating, besides the tree's spectacular appearance and interesting folklore that surrounds it.
According to the ISB Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants, this species is established and grows wild in the U.S. only in Miami-Dade and Collier counties in southern Florida.
Credits to killerplants.com and the ISB Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants and the Plants National Database.
To IslandJim - I searched out all this information by using Google.
This is one of those plants that are beyond curious. The "horns" have that polished white look more akin to ivory than long horn steer. I...Read More would recommend to anyone interested in this plant to search it out with Google. It's an "ant plant" and there is lots of interesting lore and anecdotal information about it on the web.
It's a very interesting plant but it produces to many. Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them?
Before you get too excited, since the plant you're getting was grown from seed at a nursery or by a private grower, not wild collected in...Read More
Do you know if the ants are agressive toward people and pets? I think the plant is beautiful and would consider getting one if it would...Read More
It's an easy plant to start from seed, since you scarify it. My seedlings are still a few centimeters high but they are doing quite well...Read More
According to killerplants.com, Acacia sphaerocephala is one of the five species known as Bee Wattle or Bull's-horn Acacia. The interestin...Read More
This is one of those plants that are beyond curious. The "horns" have that polished white look more akin to ivory than long horn steer. I...Read More