Two species of fire ants are found in Florida. Most notorious is Solenopsis invicta Buren, the red imported fire ant (RIFA), followed by the much less common Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius), the tropical or native fire ant.
Leaf curl is a plant disease characterized by curling of leaves, and caused by a fungus, genus Taphrina, or virus, especially genus Begomovirus of the family Geminiviridae.
The leaves also fold up if the plant is shaken or exposed to heat. In fact, high temperatures (75-85Â°F/24-29Â°C) may trigger the leaves to close. It only takes a few minutes, though, for the leaves to slowly unfold and the stems to straighten up. The feathery, fern-like leaves are made up of 25 pairs of tiny leaflets.