This plant is a pernicious weed in cultivated land and is rarely eaten by browsing animals. You will see throughout Lake Manyara National Park large sculpted earth mounds which are built by termites. Termites are sometimes called white ants, which is incorrect as they are neither white nor ants but related to cockroaches. Termite mounds vary in shape and size depending on the different soil types and climatic conditions for any given area. They are made up of a system of galleries which serve as air conditioners, keeping the temperature and humidity at a constant level suitable for their vulnerable thin-skinned inhabitants.
Termites are able to feed on wood because of an interesting partnership.
Small organisms called protozoa live in a termite's gut and are able to breakdown the cellulose in the wood into a form which can be digested by the termite. The passages of the mound are too small for her to enter and she spends her life in a central chamber laying eggs, as many as 10,000 per day, and being fed by the workers. The king is the only sexually active male and the three million or so inhabitants of the colony are all their offspring. During the rains, vast numbers of termites fly out from the mounds in the hopes of founding a new colony. They are eaten by many different animals, including man, and only those pairs that find shelter underground manage to establish themselves.