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 37 seedling ant-acacia DHJanzen100119.jpg high resolution
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| This is a seedling or small root sprout Acacia cornigera on the bare ground of a newly burned field. Note that in its first growth, it does not invest in swollen thorns or Beltian bodies (the first leaves DO have nectaries). These appear on later leaves, and in the beginning, only the basal leaflets bear Beltian bodies. That is to say, at this stage the young ant-acacia cannot support even the queen of an acacia-ant, much less a colony. Whether its leaves are better protected than are those of a larger tree (with its ant colony) remains to be determined. | ||
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