This short documentary highlights events before the opening of the passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) flowers. Drought conditions during the summer of 2011 increased the activity of many insects and spiders around the extrafloral nectaries of the plant. The water budget of the plants is strongest early in the morning. Flowers do not open until the middle of the day. At first, passion flower is generous especially to the ants in the morning providing ample volume of nectar. Ants provide protection to the passionflower from most herbivores. This protection may even amount to chemical warfare including the use of a potent neurotoxin called the formic acid. On the other hand, pollinators remain hungry until the flowers are fully open. Towards the middle of the day the water budget of many plants start to strain. Nectar secretion shifts from nectaries at the base of the flower towards the nectaries on leaf stalks. Ants are successfully kept outside the flowers preventing a conflict with pollinators.
Some herbivores like the Cone-headed planthoppers do not “wait”. They bypass ant defenses and tap into the phloem directly to consume plant sap.
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