Nearly every peony I have ever examined has ants swarming all over the unopened flower buds. Interestingly, it's not always the same species of ant, but never more than one species per peony plant. It looks to me like they are tending the flower bud, much like ands tend aphids to harvest their nectar. Is anyone familiar with this apparent symbiosis?
Ant / peony mutualism?
Really is this so The ants must be benifiting from the flower buds as the flower must be benefitting from the ants.
I hypothesize that the ants must be receiving some kind of special oil from the plants while the ants help it grow by unwraveling the unopened flower bud
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