What plant creates its own pot and fertilizers
with the help of ants?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

July 15, 2001

The Dischidia rafflesiana [dis shid' ee a ra fleas' ee ana] is a strange relative in the milkweed family. It is native to Borneo, Australia and India. The leaves come in two distinct forms; small waxy green heart-shaped leaves and large yellow wrinkled hollow leaves. The large leaves encourage ants to move in and make themselves at home.

The ants soon fill the larger leaves with the debris from their lives--dead ants, feces, bits of old leaves and discarded food. The ants by accident of their lives create potting soil.

At the node where the wrinkled leaves are, the plant puts out adventitious roots, which grow into the now-filled hollow leaf. Water from rain becomes trapped in hollow leaf. The hollow leaf is now a pot that gives the Dischidia extra nutrients to continue growing.

A Dischidia rafflesiana can be viewed in the banner at the top of the Weird Plant default page and on the Weird Plants - Goodwin Quote Desktop shown below.