In August 2011, I was traveling in south Cambodia, province of Koh Kong in order to study carnivorous plants. I was chasing in particular the poorly known Nepenthes kampotiana, an Indochinese endemic and the magnificent Utricularia delphinioides, both of which I eventually found and studied (I still have to write the scientific papers on them though). While tracking down those insectivorous plants I had the opportunity to observe the ecology of Hydnophytum formicarum that shared the same habitat.
Like I mentioned once before in another post dedicated on Hydnophytum from Cambodia, I do wonder if the Cambodian populations fall within the concept of this species. H. formicarum is quite widespread and it apparently encompasses a number of variants across large parts of South East Asia. Given the paucity of studies and literature in former Indochina, one could think that a close inspection of some of these populations could reveal something more complex. Maybe new varieties, new subspecies or even new species. Who know? We've seen this before with many groups of plants and animals. Still, in the meanwhile, I will refer to this Rubiaceae as Hydnophytum formicarum until I know better.
I observed H. forrmicarum in two areas in two parts of Cambodia, in Pursat province, on steep exposed small clearings in hill evergreen forests between 600 and 800 metres above sea level and in very large flat clearings (called 'Veals' in the Cambodian language) in Koh Kong province between 200 and 500 masl.
The pictures below were taken in such a veal in Koh Kong province. All plants were growing as epiphytes. Like this one:
The terrain was flat and covered essentially by grass. Carnivorous plants thrive in this acidic soil and I studied there Nepenthes kampotiana, various species of Utricularia and some Drosera as well. All were abundant.
I visited this place on August and at this time of the year the day temperatures were high. It was hot and despite the fact that we were in the rainy season, it was quite dry in some places. However, this kind of immense veal is typically flooded before the end of the rainy season.
The soil was sandy but in places, large pieces of sandstone were appearing at the surface such as these. The water seepages provide good conditions for many of the carnivorous plants I was searching for.
On the edges of the veal, or in isolated patches, grew trees that were hosts to quite a large number of Hydnophytum formicarum.
Are you able to recognize the ant plants on the trunk of the tallest tree below? At the distance, they look like some kind of shoots but they're not!
Here they are.
I was completely stroke by some of the specimens. It was a shame, for instance, that these ones were growing at about 4-5 metres high and out of my reach because they were almost as large as two football balloons. I would have loved to take a photograph with my hand as a scale. I can only imagine how old these plants must be. Decades?
Hydnophytum formicarum seems to favor pines trees. I did found many of them there (that was the case also in Pursat province). There's a couple of large specimens at the left side of the trunk of the main tree below but it's hard to find them.
Ant plants growing on a pine tree... What an amazing sight.
In the last picture, you can clearly observe how the Hydnophytum plant anchors itself to the tree trunk with its tenacious roots. Of course I didn't try to violently grasp one of the plants in order to take it apart from its host but I was quite tempted to do so to check how firm the embrace was. I did try to move gently some of the plants and in virtually all cases, it was impossible to move the plants, even slightly.
Most of the Hydnophytum were growing under a blazing sun, completely exposed. Heat, intense light and arguably ventilation would be required in cultivation for this type of plants. I wish I had taken the time to observe the ants and their behaviour but I didn't. Ah well, next time...
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