Hydnophytum formicarum. AKA Ant Plant - Sold Out

This is probably one of the most unusual plants we’ve ever run across. Also known as the ‘Ant Plant’, the trunk of this epiphyte, creates indentations and cavities to house stinging ants in their native habitats of Indomalaysia. Not to worry – they don’t attract ants here – at least not for us, here in the Washington DC area. We grow our mother plant outside in the summer and in the greenhouse during the cold winter months. It likes bright, indirect light – just like a Cattleya orchid and as a succulent, it will tolerate periods of drought, although we like to keep the sphagnum moss fibers It’s planted in, moist. When mature, these plants produce bright orange berries in the axis of the leaves from self-fertile tiny white flowers.
If you like it strange, odd, unique and different, then you need to add this one to your collection!




Bright orange berries produced on mature plants
Plant trunk showing holes created by the plant to welcome ants inside.
Close-up of holes in the trunk. Reminds us of tiny Hobbit homes.