Description of the jaundice plant, how to plant and care for it, recommendations for reproduction, difficulties in growing, useful properties, types.
Jaundice (Erysimum) is a herb that belongs to the Cabbage family (Brassicaceae) or, as it is also called, Cruciferous plants. It will not be difficult to meet this representative of the flora, since the territory of its distribution covers the entire northern hemisphere of the planet (Europe, Asia and North America), and especially mountainous regions. There are up to one hundred varieties of it today.
| Family name | Cabbage |
| Life cycle | Annual, biennial, or perennial |
| Growth features | Herbaceous |
| Reproduction | Seed or vegetative |
| Landing period in open ground | Seeds in mid-May, seedlings in late summer |
| Disembarkation scheme | A distance of 15 to 30 cm is left between the seedlings. |
| Substrate | Sandy, nutritious, loose |
| Soil acidity, pH | Neutral - 6, 5-7 |
| Illumination | Solar flower beds |
| Moisture indicators | Drought-resistant, but watering is needed on dry and hot summer days |
| Special Requirements | Undemanding care |
| Plant height | 0.1 cm to 0.8 m |
| Color of flowers | Yellow, white, purple, orange, or purple |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Racemose or umbellate |
| Flowering time | Spring Summer |
| Decorative time | Spring-summer |
| Place of application | Flowerbeds and borders, mixborders, alpine slides and rockeries |
| USDA zone | 2–6 |
The jaundice is scientifically named due to the word in the ancient Greek language "eryomai", which means "to help", since for a long time people knew about the plant because of its medicinal properties. Folk healers called it "core" or "savior herb", since drugs made from its parts help with vascular diseases. You can often hear other names - cheiranthus, erysium, lacfiol or yellowfiol.
Jaundice are annuals, biennials or perennials, somewhat very reminiscent of levkoi. At the same time, garden species of lacfioli and levkoi so often interbreed with each other that it is practically impossible to understand this. All types of erysium are distinguished by bushiness and densely branched shoots. Thanks to these features, the planting is dense sod and dense bushes. If the plant is an annual, then its stems are measured in height within the range of 30-80 cm, but perennial varieties may not exceed 10 cm.
The erysimum leaf plates are solid, have a linear or oblong-linear shape. Their size is small, which provides the formation of a textured effect. The color of the foliage is rich emerald green and is an excellent contrast when the buds open. The surface of the leaves is smooth, the leaf petioles are shortened.
When flowering, the tops of the branches are decorated with racemose or umbellate inflorescences, consisting of small flowers. The petals of the jaundice (as the name suggests) are colored in a rich and bright yellow hue. Although occasionally there are specimens with snow-white, orange, crimson, purple, purple or pastel petals. The shape of the petals is rounded, but there is a sharp narrowing towards the base. Sepals also have a bright color, in the flower there is a small "eye" of orange color. There are types of erysium that have both a simple and a double flower structure. These plants begin to bloom in mid-spring, spreading a sweet and strong aroma next to the plantings, but basically all jaundice bloom with the arrival of summer.
After pollination has passed, the formation of fruits occurs, which in the jaundice look like pods with linear, cylindrical or tetrahedral outlines. Inside you can find small seeds, since one gram has up to 750 pieces. At the same time, the germination properties remain high over a 3-4-year period. Ripening of fruits takes place from mid-summer to September.
Important!!
All jaundice are quite poisonous representatives of the flora. When working, it is recommended to use gloves, and after work, be sure to wash your hands with soap and water.
The most popular among florists are one-year (or, in extreme cases, two-year) varieties of erysium, which are used as annuals because of their bright and abundant flowering.
Tips for planting and caring for jaundice
- Choosing a landing site. Regardless of which species or variety is chosen for planting, it is advisable to place jaundice in a sun bed. Also, the slopes of the alpine slides with a south orientation and the most open areas of the garden, which are in direct and hot rays of the sun, can come up. It is necessary that the place be free of moisture stagnation after precipitation, otherwise the plant may die.
- The choice of soil. When growing erysium, you should not bother too much with the choice of a substrate, although it will be most comfortable for bushes on sandy soil, which has good drainage, and also contains a large amount of humus, organic compounds, which is considered moderately fertile. In nature, jaundice grow on soil rich in lime, so they can feel good in the garden in both dry and moderately moist substrates. If the soil is very dense and cannot pass moisture well, this will lead to increased dampness and, as a result, decay of the root system.
- Planting jaundice It is carried out at the end of August, so that the seedlings can adapt before the cold weather, or in spring, when the average daily temperature is at least 16 degrees Celsius. Before planting the rescue grass, it is recommended to prepare the soil. Compost and humus must be mixed into the substrate, they are taken in equal parts. Mineral dressings should not be used, and fertilizers are applied before flowering begins. It is recommended to leave a distance of 15-30 cm between the plants. After the seedlings of the jaundice are placed in the soil, it must be slightly compacted and carefully moistened.
- Watering. Since in nature, jaundice is quite drought-resistant, and here it can do just fine without additional soil moisture. However, if you regularly water the bushes, they will respond with gratitude and more intense flowering, especially on hot and dry summer days. When watering, care is required so that drops of moisture do not fall on the foliage and the base of the shoots, otherwise this can cause decay. If yellow violet is grown in a container, then it simply needs systemic soil moisture, but only so that it dries out from above between them.
- Fertilizers for jaundice it is recommended to apply only once per growing season, when the plant is ready to bloom. It is recommended to use complete complex mineral preparations, for example, Kemira-Universal or Mister-Tsvet. Such fertilizers are purchased in liquid form and dissolved in water for irrigation. The situation is different when growing jaundice in a container, it will need feeding every 20-30 days.
- General tips for caring for erysium. During the rainy season or after watering, you need to weed and mulch the soil near the bushes. This layer of mulch is usually peat or sawdust, so that the soil retains moisture longer. After flowering is over, it is recommended to cut the perennial varieties of lacfioli. If such pruning is not carried out, then, like all spring ground cover plants, jaundice have a tendency to ruin their curtains. The compactness of the plantings is lost, this leads to the fact that they grow spread out and look very untidy. Cutting shoots is carried out low, soon a powerful cushion of greenery will recover and with its emerald-green foliage will serve as a decoration for a flower garden, rock garden or rabatka until the end of the growing season. As practice shows, even one-year and two-year-old varieties of jaundice tolerate a haircut well.
- Wintering of jaundice. Typically, this process applies only to biennial or perennial varieties of rescue grass. With the arrival of November, it will be necessary to cover not only young plants, but also other clumps. First, they are covered with dry foliage or other natural material (peat, sawdust, in extreme cases, spunbond - non-woven material), and spruce branches are placed on top, since erysium cannot boast of winter hardiness. For two-year-old species, this will help lay flower buds for the next year, and not freeze out in cold and little snowy winters. Annual varieties of jaundice also do not differ in cold resistance. They can only withstand temperatures down to -3. In the spring, short-term morning frosts will not affect flowering in any way and will not stop it.
If we talk about the use of jaundice in landscape design, then they distinguish:
- variegated and chintz phytocompositions designed to decorate mixborders, rock gardens, rabatki and flower beds;
- the formation of bright flower spots of dazzling colors on flower beds;
- decorating lawns with plants with green foliage;
- if necessary, the formation of textural spots in flower beds and ridges;
- use as a ground cover crop for mixborders;
- the formation of flower beds around recreation areas and the decoration of terraces with flower islands;
- planting as a partner for rapidly withering spring primroses to cover vacant places and hide withered foliage;
- planting in garden pots and tubs to enjoy the sweet scent;
- the use of the melliferous qualities of the jaundice.
Near the erysium, you can plant marigolds, anemones, tulips, calendula (only if the type of savior grass has a different color of flowers), forget-me-nots, lavender, different varieties of daisies, veronica and sage, poppies look good in the neighborhood.
Recommendations for breeding jaundice
The most popular method of reproduction of the core is considered to be seed, but perennial varieties can only rarely be obtained vegetatively.
Annual varieties of lacfioli are obtained by sowing seeds directly into the ground or growing seedlings. A sunny place is immediately selected, since the seedlings will not be transplanted. If you put seeds in the soil, then the best period will be the May days, when the morning frosts will pass, or before winter. Before sowing, the bed is loosened to a depth of 20 cm, the soil is combined with compost and slightly leveled. On the surface, the seed material of the jaundice is distributed and from above it is only slightly powdered with the same composition of the substrate. Watering of crops is carried out using a watering can with small holes. After 7-10 days, you can see the first shoots, which are recommended to thin out so that the stronger specimens of jaundice have more space for growth. The distance between the shoots is about 10 cm.
They also do the same with the seeds of two-year varieties of erysium, only the transplantation of seedlings from the garden will be carried out at the end of summer. For the winter, it is required to cover young lacfioli. If in your area the temperature drops more than 18 degrees Celsius during the winter months, then you need to dig up the plants and transplant them into pots until spring, which are placed in a cool room with good lighting. Watering during this period is carried out in moderation, the jaundice will not need additional fertilizing. When the middle of spring comes, you can plant the grown bushes in the flowerbed, having previously prepared the soil.
When growing seedlings of jaundice, they adhere to standard rules. Sowing seeds for this is done in early spring. A wide and shallow container is used, which is filled with peat-sandy soil. Seeds of rescue grass are spread over its surface and powdered with soil from above. The crops can then be watered or sprayed with a spray bottle. A piece of glass is placed on top of the container or the container is wrapped in plastic wrap. The place where germination will take place should be well lit and with heat indicators in the range of 16-18 degrees. When leaving, it is important not to forget about airing and watering, if it is noticed that the soil on top has dried out.
When sprouts appear, the shelter can be removed and the seedlings thinned out, leaving 15–20 cm between them. When a real pair of leaves unfold on young jaundice, you can dive them in separate pots. It is better to use containers made of peat, this will simplify the subsequent transplantation into open ground. Often, growers transplant seedlings into large pots, maintaining a specified distance between the plants. Transfer to open ground is possible with the onset of May-June.
Seedlings of annual varieties of jaundice will bloom on average 2 months after sowing the seed.
Sowing the seeds of a two-year-old lacfioli before winter will lead to the fact that the resulting plants will bloom only after one growing season. This year they will increase their green mass and actively develop. Only in the second year, flower buds will begin to form in the spring. You can also cultivate seedlings of two-year-old species of jaundice, then the seeds should be placed in the ground in the period May-June, and the seedlings should be transferred to the flowerbed only with the arrival of autumn. But here the advantage is that in the summer months it is more difficult to preserve young erysiums than its seedlings. After the process of flowering and fruiting is completed, in two-year-old species and in annuals, dying off begins.
Perennial species of jaundice can be propagated both by sowing in spring days, and before winter in prepared beds for seedlings. Transplanting seedlings to a permanent place in the garden is recommended only after the first successful wintering has passed. Occasionally, cuttings cut in summer can be rooted.
Difficulties in growing jaundice in the garden
In principle, caring for erysium can be called simple. In this process, no problems arise, if not for the difficulties associated with waterlogged soil. Even the slightest dampness can lead to the fact that annual and perennial species of jaundice begin to suffer from decay or are affected fungal diseases … If symptoms of such a disease are noticed, which are characterized by wilting of the plant, deformed form of shoots or foliage, the formation of a gray or whitish bloom, it is worth first removing all parts affected by the disease and treating with any fungicidal preparation.
If watering was excessive or a large amount of nitrogen fertilization was applied, it develops rust. It mainly affects the variety of jaundice Cheri (Erysimum cheir). In this case, all affected bushes are immediately destroyed.
Another problem is downy mildewthat occurs at low temperatures and high humidity. On the leaves and stems of the jaundice, you can see a whitish bloom, which is very similar to frozen lime. Then you should remove all leaves and shoots covered with such a bloom, and also spray with a fungicide.
Keela
- a disease affecting the roots of erysium. It can be avoided if, before planting the jaundice, the soil is treated with lime.
Aphids and earthen flea are distinguished from the pests of the saving grass. The first pest is removed by spraying lacfioli curtains with a kerosene-soap solution. Aphids can be driven away by tobacco tincture or a weak composition of anabazine-sulfate preparation. However, insecticidal agents such as Aktara, Actellik or Fitoverma can be used.
Notes on the jaundice plant
If an animal eats a lot of erysium grass, which is ubiquitous in Russia, then its belly may swell.
Almost all varieties of lacfioli are considered honey plants. Since the composition of fatty oils in the fruits of jaundice reaches 40%, it is used in the production of drying oil.
Biennial varieties have long been used in traditional medicine. In this case, all parts of the plant are used except for the root. All preparations based on the stem, leaves, seeds and flowers help with heart disease. They also eliminate coughs. Often, erysium is part of slimming teas, and because of the aroma of flowers, it is used in perfumery.
A decoction and tincture of jaundice strengthens sleep. The use of teas based on the rescue herb can protect against coronary heart disease, they normalize the nervous system and help get rid of depressive conditions.
However, do not forget that jaundice is a poisonous plant and there are a number of contraindications for its reception, namely:
- acute myocardium or atherosclerosis, cardiotonic diseases;
- pregnancy, lactation or childhood;
- allergy to drugs;
- individual intolerance to drugs from erysium.
Description of jaundice species
Since there are quite a few types of rescue herbs, we will focus on the most popular ones.
Jaundice Chery (Erysimum cheiri)
may occur under the names lacfiol or heirantus Cheri. Grown as an annual or biennial plant. In countries with a southern climate, it is cultivated as a spectacular perennial that blooms in spring and can be evergreen. Stems are upright, powerful, with dense branching. Their height is 30–80 cm. The foliage is emerald green, there are many leaves. The flowers are composed of 4 petals, which reach 2 cm in length and sharply taper towards the base. At the same time, the color of the petals contrasts with the stamens and nectaries in the central part. Flowers are painted in shades from yellow, orange to brick.
Marshall's jaundice (Erysimum marschallianum)
In our area, the plant is known as a hybrid Allioni or, as it was called earlier, erysimum x allionii … It can be both an annual and a biennial plant. It resembles the appearance of the jaundice Chery, but the flowers are distinguished by a more uniform color - orange-apricot. The umbrella inflorescence begins to gradually acquire a racemose shape as the buds open.
Perovsky's jaundice (Erysimum perofskianum)
is also called Jaundice orange … This species enjoys the greatest success among florists. The branching of the shoots of this herbaceous representative of the flora begins from the very base. The stems themselves are straight, reaching 40 cm in height. However, often cushion curtains can only grow up to 20 cm in height. Leaf plates are small in size, linear in shape, due to the large amount of foliage, a dense pillow is formed. At the top of the shoots, inflorescences are formed in the form of umbrellas, made up of simple and inconspicuous flowers. The color of the petals is a rich saffron yellow color scheme.
Redovsky jaundice (Erysimum redowskii)
or Pallas jaundice is a rather rare species. May bloom is possible only in the second year of life. In this case, after the flowers wither, the shoots die off. The foliage has a grayish tint. The shape of the leaves is narrow-linear. The bushes are compact, their height varies in the range of 5–20 cm. Inflorescences on the shoots appear in small numbers, the color of the petals is yellow.
Hybrid jaundice (Erysimum hybridum)
- perennial with powerful stems (almost 1 m in height). Woody shoots, flowering throughout the summer, lilac flowers.
Video about growing jaundice:
