Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Friends or Foes!


I chanced upon these group of very busy red ants enclosing a soursoup (guyabano-Anona muricata) fruit. I wonder what they can be getting off from the unripe fruit. There is also a white netlike film they made around the fruit, which possibly served as their protection from the predators in the surrounding. I will visit it again next week to check if the open end, not yet enclosed with the net will already be closed. I also don't know what kind of food these ants eat. I will still be looking for an entomologist to ask for these ants' habits. What i am sure is they are really very busy, rain or shine, fulfilling the saying "as busy as the ants".

Below is the flower of the guyabano. It has thick sepals which enclose the more delicate flower parts. I seldom see guyabano flowers, so i really braved the ants just to get this photo. If i am lucky i can update this post with the newly developed fruit of the guyabano. Do you like guyabano fruits too?

There was this recent article circling the inboxes of email addresses, that guyabano plant parts especially the fruit has been found to cure or help increase the immunity of cancer patients. I wonder if you chanced upon that email also. It said that the study was conducted in the US but because it does not favor tissue disruption during analysis, the drug company was not able to extract its active ingredients and failed in separating it still in active form. It also said that one of the scientists squealed the secret and told many people about the health benefits from guyabano fruits.
You can check the internet about that, i've seen the internet source sometime, although now i cannot retrieve the links.

5 comments:

  1. Eeeek...I hate these ants that frequently build nests in our garden, especially seen on the White Mussaenda! Nevertheless, it's a marvel to see their ingenuity in twisting and twirling the foliage to build their homes. Lovely images again, Andrea!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great pictures and blog - glad you visited me! I am a great fan of your part of the world and have travelled all over! If you check this link, you will see the work I am doing in India:
    http://theravenfoundation.blogspot.com

    I am going to India tomorrow to see how work is progressing, so there will many posts on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Andrea, I am with Jacqueline about the ants. Looks like the biting type. Your pictures are so clear, it makes the ants look scary.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much Autumn Belle, Jacqueline and the Galloping Gardener. At least now i have a few persons trying to look at my posts or at least my photos, lol. These ants don't have very sickening stings. Maybe we might have a common term for this species, as we have many common words. Here it is "anlilisa" or "lisa-lisa". Yes the sight of it and their numbers is very scary!

    Hi The Galloping Gardener, i will be following your posts and your awesome photos. I hope for your very productive work in India. I was there only once last year in Ooty, the southern part. Thanks for your comment and leading me to Wisteria sp.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Im no fan of ants. They are really messy when they come with mealy bugs and farm them on my plants.

    And in longterm, they do more damage than good. Hope this species do not create any harm to you or your garden.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments inspire me to post more, and our conversations make life and gardening more meaningful.

However, Anonymous comments and personal back links give me problems, so i don't publish them. Anonymous + back links = SPAM = DELETE

Related Posts with Thumbnails