Plant myiasis

This is a fabulous Dyckia hebdingii affinis the same species just presented two posts before.

This was a single headed plant when collected in wilderness. There in the field the central growing area of the crown was rotten and the plant was under a severe attack of a drosophila like fly (fruit fly). 

The plants was about to die or was already dying as the larvae in great mumber fed on the tender sugar rich tissue of the center of the crown. The species is absolutely rare so I removed the death tissue and all the larvae I could find. Once at home the plant got a bath with a systemic insecticide..

The plant turned into an eight headed super plant, a multihead one.

In two years this will be a just stunning multiheaded Dyckia hebdingii affinis, one of the most amazing beautiful of all Brazilian Dyckia species.

In nature some dyckias are attacked by these flies and other insects tha lay their eggs within the crown for the larvae feed on the tender sugar rich center tissues of the plant.

Sadly in most cases this leads the plant to death.