Distinctive characteristics of abutilon, cultivation techniques, advice on reproduction and transplantation, problems with cultivation, interesting facts, species. Abutilon belongs to the genus of plants with herbal, semi-shrub and shrub forms of growth, which can grow for one year or many seasons, never shedding their foliage. They are all ranked in the Malvaceae family, which even contains small trees and more than 200 species of the planet's flora, and ten of them are considered endemic (plants that grow in a limited geographical area). These rare species lead their life line from the Hawaiian Islands, from the lands of India and China, and are also found in regions of South America and Africa, territories of Australia, where tropical and subtropical climatic zones dominate.
The plant got its name because of the direct translation from Latin of the name "abitulon", which means "giving shade" or "indoor maple". This reflects the similarity of the leaves of the bush with maple leaf blades. Another name is found in the lands of India and was given to its plant for the fibrous structure of dry fibers - "Kanatnik".
The plant reaches a height of one and a half meters. The bark of the branches and stem has a brown tone. The shoots branch profusely and the leaf mass never changes its rich emerald hue. Slight pubescence is sometimes present. Its leaves are large and reach a length of 10 cm, attached to long petioles. They can split into 3-5 blades and have graceful cutouts, so they have a maple outline. The edge is crenate.
Flowers appear on Abutilon either singly, or bell-shaped inflorescences with simple and double buds are collected from them. Directly, the color of flowers depends on the variety. There are some varieties that differ in leaves painted with white-variegated colors and flowers with whitish, red and yellow petals. In the center of the flower there are numerous stamens, which serve as a real decoration. Hybrid varieties are distinguished by long flowering, varied color of leaf plates and petals of buds. This plant is very much loved by room decorators or room designers, since by planting various varieties of cable car next to it, you can achieve continuous flowering of the phytocomposition. You can also grow the plant for landscaping large halls and terraces. If you are grafting a species with variegated leaves on a plant with leafy plates of a rich green hue, you can get the most unusual combinations in the color of the foliage of abutilon.
Agrotechnology for growing a ropeway at home, care
- Lighting and choosing a place for installing the pot. The plant is suitable for good, but soft lighting, openwork partial shade. Just a few hours a day, abutilone can also endure direct sunlight. Afraid of drafts. Window sills of western and eastern orientation of windows are suitable. With a decrease in daylight hours (autumn-winter), it is better to use fluorescent lamps or phytolamps for illumination. With the arrival of spring warmth, you can take out the pot with the "cable car" outside, but choose a place protected from drafts and rain, and also so that the sun does not fall on the bush from 12 to 16 o'clock in the afternoon.
- Content temperature. The optimum growing temperature should fluctuate between 22-25 degrees in the spring and summer. With the arrival of autumn-winter time, heat indices decrease to 12-15 degrees. If you lower them even more, then the plant will begin to shed foliage.
- Air humidity. The plant needs spraying with soft water.
- Watering abutilon. With the arrival of spring and until autumn days, the soil is moistened abundantly. In winter, watering is reduced, but they make sure that the soil does not dry out. Water for irrigation is taken soft, without lime and chlorine compounds, settled at room temperature.
- Fertilizers. Every 14 days, it is necessary to apply mineral complex fertilizers and organic matter throughout the spring and until autumn.
- Transplantation and selection of a substrate. A change of pot and land is carried out in the spring, but when the plant does not bloom. Young specimens are transplanted annually, adults after 2-3 years. Drainage is required in the pot, its size is only a couple of centimeters larger than the previous one, since flowering is more abundant when the roots are a little cramped. You can grow a "rope" on hydroponic material, but if soil is used, then it should be with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction (pH 6). Sod, leafy and humus soil, river sand are mixed (all parts are equal).
Recommendations for breeding "indoor maple"
Propagate abutilon by planting seeds or cuttings. It is customary to propagate by seeds only species with green leaves, since parental properties may be lost. Seed planting is carried out in March-April in lightweight soil (peat-sandy) to a depth of no more than 6 mm. The container is covered with glass or plastic wrap. The heat is maintained within 16–20 degrees, it is necessary to regularly ventilate the seedlings and, if necessary, moisten the soil. The sprouts will appear on the 20th day. Plants obtained in this way can bloom this year.
When cuttings are cut apical cuttings from young shoots that remain after pruning. The length should not exceed 10-12 cm, have 3 leaves, the buds are removed. Cuttings are planted in moistened peat-sandy soil in the spring, you can put them in water and keep the heat in the range of 20-22 degrees. Wrap with plastic or put under a glass jar. Daily ventilation and moisture maintenance is required. They take root in a month, when the cuttings have sprouted enough, they dive into pots with a diameter of 7 cm.
Problems when cultivating abutilone at home
Most often it is affected by aphids, whiteflies, spider mites, scale insects, thrips, mealybugs. It is required to carry out treatment with insecticidal preparations.
The release of foliage and buds occurs due to a sharp drop in temperature, overdrying or flooding of soil. Blanching of the color of the leaves is due to insufficient lighting; additional lighting will be required in winter. If the tips of the leaves begin to dry and acquire a brown tone, this means increased dryness of the air or little watering.
Falling leaves from the bottom of the shoots occurs due to lack of nutrients.
Interesting facts about abutilone
Only ten species that originate from the lands of South America, namely from the territories of Brazil, are grown as ornamental crops. But some types of abutilone are used to make plant fiber. The type of cable car Theophrastus, in its dry stems, contains about 25% fibers in total and with its help yarn is produced, on the basis of which ropes, hemp, twine and sacking are then made. For agricultural purposes, the cable car has been cultivated in the territories of China for a long time.
On the lands of Russia, the mentioned variety of abutilon is also found, it grows in many regions of Eurasia and is considered universally as a bast (fibrous plant).
Often the people find the name of the decorative variety of this plant called "indoor maple", and it is customary to cultivate hybrids as indoor crops.
If you listen to the opinion of psychologists and energy specialists, then abutilone is a plant with special energy flows. It is recommended to start this bush for those people who are prone to frequent depressive moods. It is also customary to put a pot with "indoor maple" in offices and rooms with a large number of workers, as it helps to relieve and resolve stressful situations. If the cable car blooms, then it has a calming effect on any person nearby. It is interesting that until now scientists have not established why the plant has this property, but it is confirmed by many people.
Types of abutilone
- Abutilon hybrid (Abutilon hybridum) is a bred plant obtained by crossing varieties from America - Abutilon pictum, sometimes called striped abutilon (Abutilon striatum) and Darwin's abutilon (Abutilon darwinii) with multiple varieties of the variety. A shrub plant with a spreading crown. It can reach a height of one and a half meters. The bark is brownish in color. The leaves are distinguished by soft pubescence and 3-5 lobed cuts, very much like maple leaf plates. They measure 10-12 cm in length. Flowers have a drooping shape and beautiful bell-shaped outlines. They can grow up to 5 cm in length. The color of the petals of the buds depends on the variety, it occurs: golden, white or red and burgundy tones. There are a lot of forms and varieties of this variety in culture.
- Abutilon sellowianiv. The variety is very similar to the previous species. Shrub, reaching a maximum height of 2 m, with little branching shoots that are pubescent and grow erect. The leaf plates are solid or divided into 3 blades, the lobes of which are elongated-pointed. The shade of the flower petals is light purple with a slight pinkish venation. The flowering process stretches from mid-summer to December. A variety of this Marmoratum variety has a golden-feathery tint on the leaves.
- Abutilon grape-leaved (Abutilon vitifolium). A plant with a bushy form of growth, reaching a height of 2.4 m, the branches have soft pubescence. The leaves are divided into 3-5 lobes, the edge of the leaf lobes is deeply serrate, with a velvety surface, the color is green, up to 15 cm in length. On the branches of 3-4 flower buds, terminal clusters are collected on long pedicels - their length reaches 15 cm. can take the form of both bell-shaped and completely rounded (wheel-shaped). The petals of the flower have a lavender-blue color, sometimes dark veins are present. The variety begins to bloom in late spring.
- Abutilon spotted (Abutilon pictum). Sometimes the plant is found under the synonyms of Abutilon striatum or Abutilon striped. It has a shrubby form of growth, shoots are short, thin, soft, slightly woody. The leaf plate takes on a heart-shaped shape, and is attached to long petioles. There is a division into 3–6 lobes, each lobe has a sharp point at the apex, they are naked, with a green color, and an unevenly whitish spot on the surface. The flower is bell-shaped, the pedicels are elongated, the arrangement is single in the leaf axils. The color of the petals is unusually decorative, the corolla has a golden yellow tone and reddish veins run along it, its length is several times longer than the calyx. The variety blooms in late summer and early autumn. There is a variety of Thompsonii Vetch., Which is represented by a shrub with a height of two meters. The leaves are bare, divided into 5 lobes, reaching 10 cm in length, serrated along the edge, the surface is dark emerald with yellow spots. The flowers are quite large with a length of 7 cm, bloom in a simple and double shape. The color varies from light red to yellowish. Blooms in early summer.
- Abutilon megapotamicum (Abutilon megapotamicum). Often found as Abutilon vezillarium. In the territories of England, due to the fact that the flower of this variety has a very decorative appearance, it is called "Weeping Chinese Lantyern". It grows to a height of one and a half meters and has the shape of a bush. Its shoots are multiple, thin, drooping to the ground. The leaf plate is distinguished by an elongated ovoid shape, uneven serration along the edge, the length reaches 8 cm. The color is bright or dark green. Single flowers hang on elongated pedicels. The calyx takes a swollen, tubular-oval shape, has a ribbing, in the “source” species it is bright red. Corolla consists of wedge-shaped petals, painted in light yellow tones and with a red spot at the base. When good growth conditions are created, flowering is extended throughout the year. It is grown in floriculture, as an ampelous culture in pots, hanging baskets, but if the plant is given support, it will grow like a bush. In the decorative Variegate variety, the leaf plates are variegated. And the subspecies Marmoratum is distinguished by yellow stripes on the leaves and due to elongated shoots, it can be grown as an ampelous plant, in winter gardens it is used as a ground cover.
- Abutilon theophrasti. It is an annual herbaceous form of growth. It is mainly settled in the southern regions of the European part of Russia, it can grow in weedy places, near human buildings or near roads. It is often found in field areas as a weed of agricultural land, especially it harms beet plantings in the southern regions. The soil prefers from sandy loam to loam. It has a core type of root system. The stem of the plant is upright, simple or branchy at the top. Covered with a velvety pubescence of soft thin hairs, up to 80-120 cm in height. The leaf plates are arranged alternately on the stem, they are large in size, broadly ovate, dentate along the edge, cordate at the base, the apex is retracted, entire. Leaves are attached to long petioles, pubescent with soft hairs. Cotyledon leaves are rounded-ovate, up to 10-15 cm long and 8-15 cm wide, their petioles are finely pubescent. The flowers are oval in shape, devoid of subdivisions, the sepals grow together by about 1/2, of which racemose-paniculate inflorescences are collected, scattering in the leaf sinuses. The petals are colored yellow-orange or yellow, measuring 10 mm in length. The fruit ripens in the form of a complex star-shaped capsule, divided into 12-25 nests. Its color is dark, pubescence is present.
- Abutilon Bella. A plant with exceptional decorative effect, shrub form, evergreen foliage, branched shoots, even species. The flowers of this variety bloom multiple, in the form of bright bells, which reach 7 cm in diameter. The crop is intended for growing in winter gardens, indoors or for planting in flowerpots, pots and garden containers.
- Abutilon darwini. Can be found under the name Abutilon hildendrandii. It is rare in culture. The branches of the plant do not exceed one meter in height, they have soft and silky pubescence. The leaf plates on the upper part of the branches have long petioles and reach 15–20 cm in length and up to 8–10 cm in width. They are divided into 3 lobes, pubescent. Below the shoots, leaf blades have 5–7 lobes in the form of lobes with an elongated middle lobe. There are a lot of flowers, a rich orange hue, blood-red venation is on the surface. The shape of the buds is bell-shaped with a diameter of 5 cm. Flowers in the leaf axils can spread out singly or up to 3 units. The flowering process stretches from mid-spring to early autumn.
For more on caring for abutilone, see this video:
