
Squamellaria · Kew POWO · Kew Plants of the World Online
Squamellaria
Sign in to saveSquamellaria is a genus of myrmecophytic flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It includes eight species native to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassMagnoliopsida
- OrderGentianales
- FamilyRubiaceae
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Wikidata facts
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- Squamellaria
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Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Ecology
- Species
- References
Squamellaria is a genus of myrmecophytic flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It includes eight species native to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji.
==Ecology== The Fijian species of this genus are symbiotic with ants of the species Philidris nagasau, which live inside the tuberous stems of these plants. The ants remove seeds from the fruit and place them in locations where they are likely to succeed as epiphytes. They also fertilise the plants with their manure, and defend them against herbivores. An ant colony may occupy dozens of Squamellaria tubers.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Squamellaria” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.