Dischidia pectenoides blooms with deep pink to red tubular flowers. If pollinated, the seeds will be borne in a capsule, a fruit which dehisces—dries and splits to release its seeds. A capsule can be seen in the upper right corner of the photograph.

This Dischidia has opposite leaves at nodes along a vine that twines counterclockwise as it climbs. But the vine also produces adventitious roots at the nodes that can serve as holdfasts if the supporting surface has craggy bark.

At intervals along the vine, a node will produce an ascidium, a single modified leaf which resembles a pecten shell like the familiar logo of a large oil company. The ascidium is hollow with a secondary hollow pocket within. A small funnel with a tiny orifice sits adjacent to the petiole and allows access to the hollow and the interior pocket. Roots arising near the node will grow into the interior of the leaf. An ascidium is in the lower center of the photograph.

But sending roots into a leaf does not make much sense without the help of ants. Ants nest in the inner pocket and use the outer hollow as a trash heap. Ant trash is nutritious, at least as far as the plant is concerned. So Dischidia pectenoides makes its own pots with a home for ants and ants fill them with growing media. As the plant climbs up the tree, it is totally dependent upon these pots and the ants.

 

(Compiled from: “On Dischidia with Double Pitchers” H.H.W. Pearson, Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany Volume 35, June 5, 1902, published to the internet by Botanicus, Missouri Botanical Garden Library, 2008 and The Ants, Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1990)