How Can Ants Create A Flowering Peony?

Ants and peonies share a mutualistic relationship, with ants attracted to the sugary nectar droplets around the green outer part of the flower (the sepal). This sweet nectar attracts ants from the garden to peony buds to feast. Once there, ants provide natural pest control for peonies by eating nectar and also troublemakers like swarming ants.

The relationship between peonies and ants is a type of mutualism in which two organisms of different species benefit from the activity of one another. Peony flowers provide food for ants and in turn, they protect the blossoms from other floral-feeding insects. The sugary juice that peony sepals release before the flowers bloom serves as a food source for ants. It is a myth that peonies require ants to bloom, but the relationship between peonies and ants is a symbiotic relationship wherein the ants are attracted by and feed off of the flowers’ nectar.

As buds swell and get larger, the green sepals become coated in nectar, which draws in ants and other interested insects. The benefit to the plant is that ants are likely recruiting ants to protect the flowers, which for angiosperms, is essential for the growth of angiosperms.

However, ants are not needed to open peony flowers. They are just interested in the nectar. Although ants do not play a role in peonies’ ability to bloom, they are beneficial to the plants by preventing damage to reproductive parts (flowers) and helping the plant set seeds and get its genes into the next generation. When ants crawl over peony buds, they are taking advantage of the flower’s nectar and defending the plant against other insects that may negatively impact flower development.