Philpatrick Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 I have had this fern for three years. There is an interesting sticky substance produced in perfect single spherical drops at almost every junction at the base of the leaflets. Detailed image and some structures dotted in a line above the drops. Some of the drops are a light sticky fluid, and some are like sticky rubber spheres. A lecanopteris curtisii is growing alongside this plant in the same conditions but I have not noticed the drops. Update: The L. curtisii has recently formed a few drops. Could this be a result of guttation, or possibly nectaries? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philpatrick Posted July 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2019 According to a phylogenetic tree of plants with extrafloral nectaries (foliar nectaries for non flowering plants); there are several ferns in the polypodaceae family with foliar nectaries. I rechecked the L. curtisii again and it does have some drops forming. The location of the drops matches the location of the nectaries of several other polypod ferns. Also in another article: "Bracken nectaries are present and active on both young and mature fronds, whereas Polypodium nectaries are active only on the young fronds." (American Journal of Botany 85(5): 736–739. 1998.). This link has interesting information on fern nectaries: https://www.botany.one/2014/07/sweet-nectar-gives-ferns-bitter-taste/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Jaguar Posted July 28, 2019 Report Share Posted July 28, 2019 Great shots, and excellent observations on this. Just encountered very conspicuous extrafloral nectaries on the abaxial surfaces of the leaves on an apparently undescribed epiphytic Neotropical blueberry (probably a Ceratostema; hasn't flowered yet for confirmation). Ant + plant relationships are everywhere we look for them. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philpatrick Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Thank you. The drops are about a millimeter across, very noticeable by the way they refract light, and more frequent on fronds with sori. As a test, some ants were placed on a frond and they consumed the drops, with some of the meal leftover adhering to them. That plant would be very interesting to see. The informative Neotropical blueberry article has great images with amazing color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philpatrick Posted April 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2021 More nectar images. The ants feed on the ferns nectar, and I can see their abdomen expand as they gorge themselves. Many Ant species have two stomachs a private stomach and a social stomach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurélien Posted May 24, 2021 Report Share Posted May 24, 2021 Nice observations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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