A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Dicentra cucullaria
Spotted on May 7, 2011
Submitted on Sep 19, 2014
1 Comment
Congrats! This spotting has been featured as a PN Fun Fact:
Project Noah Fun Fact: Myrmecochory is the dispersal of seeds by ants and the Dutchman's breeches is one such plant that uses this strategy. The seeds have a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants. The ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest debris, where they are protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris. Elaiosomes are present in at least 11,000, but possibly up to 23,000 species of plants! ~Wikipedia
https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/pho...