Sean Houtman wrote:

Tanya wrote in
:

i don't think that it is guttation (which afaik feels like water)
-- would you know the name of the glands at the leaf base?
is there any other cause of gland activity apart from being used
by ants?
thanks very much again!
sincerely
Tanya
the end result of this is leaf loss and the plant dies...




The gland would be called an extrafloral nectary. Don't count on my
thoughts about the cause of the glands suddenly turning on. It is
possible that stress could cause a plant to produce more than
normal, and that stress could be leading to the loss of leaves, etc.

Sean

thank you, Sean,
i'll look into the extrafloral nectary (as you mention, they may be
under some sort of stress -- all of them (regardless of where they are
etc.) have this feature...
thanks!
sincerely
Tanya