Myrmecophyte

Pseudomyrmex ferruginea ants on a myrmecophyte tree, Vachellia cornigera, the bullhorn acacia of Central America

Myrmecophytes (/mərˈmɛkəft/; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes.[1] These plants possess structural adaptations in the form of domatia where ants can shelter, and food bodies and extrafloral nectaries that provide ants with food.[1] In exchange for these resources, ants aid the myrmecophyte in pollination, seed dispersal, gathering of essential nutrients, and defense.[1] Domatia adapted specifically to ants may be called myrmecodomatia.[2]