Distinctive characteristics of tabernemontana, tips for indoor growing, breeding steps, pest and disease control, curious notes, species. Tabernemontana (Tabernaemontana) is classified according to the botanical classification to the Apocynaceae family. The place of its origin, this representative of the flora can be considered the territories of tropical Asia, but settling in other regions of the planet, it can be found on the lands of Central and South America, that is, where there is a tropical and subtropical climate. At the same time, it chooses coastal zones for its comfortable growth.
The plant bears its scientific name in honor of the scientist who is considered in the scientific world as the "father of German botany" - Jacob Theodor Tabernemontanus. Thus, the French botanist Charles Plumier (1646-1704) decided to immortalize the name of his colleague at the beginning of the 18th century (in 1703).
All tabernemontans have a shrub or tree-like form of growth, while their sizes vary from small to medium. Parameters can vary from 40 cm to a meter or one and a half in height. The leaf plates on the branches are arranged in opposite order. The shape of the leaf is oblong with a pointed tip at the apex, the surface is shiny and leathery. The foliage is painted green.
The flowers of the plant are its real decoration. Multiple buds are collected in an inflorescence that has the shape of a complex scutellum. In a flower, the calyx is divided into five parts, sepals are even in outline, small, usually they are thin films or thin-leaf-like structure, the apex is dull, the surface is glandular. The contours of the corolla are wheel-shaped, the size is often small, and its color is predominantly white. Inside there are diverging anthers and a pistil with a cylindrical stigma. Apocarpous ovary with multiple ovules.
The size of the flower directly depends on the variety, so its length can reach 20 cm with an opening width of 3 to 5 cm. Often the structure of the flower is double, the color of the petals has a cream tone. The flowering process can be extended throughout the year.
With its outline of a bush and leaf plates, tabernemontana is very reminiscent of a gardenia, but only until the buds bloom. Gardenia is distinguished by a flower structure resembling a small rose and a rich pleasant aroma. The flowers of the first representative of the green world resemble the shape of a bell, with petals having a corrugated structure on their surface, and there is also a different, but also quite attractive smell.
After pollination, a fruit is formed, with which a large leaflet enters, inside with numerous seed material.
The growth rate of this excellent representative of kutrovy is quite high and it is recommended to restrain its size when grown indoors by pruning. If you follow all the conditions for care, tabernemontana will delight its owner for seven or more years.
Despite its resemblance to a very ornamental gardenia, the plant is not so demanding to care for. If we compare the rules for the cultivation of these representatives of the flora, then the care of the latter is quite simple, but only with some of the difficulties indicated below.
Caring for tabernemontana at home
- Lighting and space for the pot. For comfortable content, they choose the location on the windowsill of windows facing east or west, where there is bright, but at the same time diffused lighting.
- Content temperature. Since it is a "inhabitant" of the tropics, for its cultivation, the heat indicators are maintained in the range of 18-20 degrees. If constant summer heat comes, then you can expose the pot with the plant to the open air. When winter comes, they make sure that the column of the thermometer does not fall below 15 units. It is required to protect the plant from drafts.
- When growing this exotic, the humidity of the air must be increased. If the humidity in the room is too low, then it is recommended to spray the deciduous mass, otherwise damage by harmful insects is possible. Moreover, there is a rule for caring for tabernemontana - it is better to additionally spray than to water the substrate, since its bays will lead to decay of the root system.
- Watering. The plant requires moderately moist soil, bays harm tabernemontana. When the flowering process begins, it is watered once a week, and with the arrival of winter, moisture is limited. The signal for watering is a slightly dried out top layer of the substrate. Only warm and soft water is used. To do this, a couple of times a month add a couple of drops of lemon juice to the water for irrigation per 1 liter of liquid.
- Fertilizers. To enjoy the flowering of tabernemontana, it is recommended to carry out constant feeding in the spring-summer months. The frequency of such actions is once every 14 days. Preparations are used for flowering indoor flora representatives.
- Repotting and advice on soil selection. Since the growth rate of a young tabernemontana is high, she will have to change the pot often - several times a year. When the plant matures, such operations become necessary only once every 2-3 years. A generous drainage layer is laid in the pot. The soil for the bush is selected loose, it is often mixed from humus leafy soil, river sand and peat (parts must be equal). The acidity of the substrate can be both slightly acidic and slightly alkaline - pH 4, 5–5, 5. Often a little soil from under coniferous trees is added to the composition of such a soil mixture, but here it is important not to overdo it, otherwise the soil will quickly acidify.
- Features of care. A decrease in winter heat will facilitate the subsequent abundant flowering. In the spring, weakened shoots are trimmed and the tops of the branches are pinched. However, the latter is not necessary, since the plant is already distinguished by abundant branching from nature.
Reproduction of tabernemontana with your own hands
It is possible to get a new plant with beautiful flowers by rooting cuttings or sowing seeds.
Since the plant does not have a pronounced dormant period, propagation by cuttings can be done at any time of the year. However, the best period is considered to be during all summer months. Tabernemontana blanks for cuttings are cut from semi-lignified shoots. Their length should be at least 10 cm. Before planting, it is recommended to first rinse the sections under running water in order to remove the milky juice and there was no blockage of the vessels. Then you can treat the cut with a rooting stimulator. The workpieces are planted in pots filled with a peat-sand or peat-perlite mixture. After the cuttings are covered with a transparent plastic bag or placed under a cut plastic bottle. These steps are necessary to maintain high humidity. The pots are placed in a well-lit, warm place (temperature about 22 degrees), but the cuttings should not be exposed to direct sunlight.
Rooting care is to remove cover and condensation daily. Of course, such a process will be easier when using a bottle (the part on which there is a cork) as a cover. In this case, the plug is simply unscrewed and ventilated. The condition of the soil is also monitored, if it begins to dry out, then watering should be carried out.
Some growers say that tabernemontana cuttings can be put in a vessel with water and so wait for the roots to appear. When the root shoots reach 1 cm in length, the cuttings are planted in pots with a moistened peat-perlite substrate. Rooting usually takes up to a month, then the cuttings can be transplanted into separate pots with more suitable soil. After that, young plants will begin to bloom in two months.
When seed propagation, it is recommended to maintain heat indicators at about 18 degrees, the lighting in the place in which the pot with crops will stand should be scattered. The seeds are planted in the loose peat-sandy soil described above. The container is covered with polyethylene or a piece of glass is placed on top of it. It is necessary not to forget about airing and watering the substrate. The plants obtained in this way will begin to bloom only two years from the moment of planting.
Pests and diseases of tabernemontana in indoor cultivation
If the conditions for keeping the plant are often violated, for example, the air humidity is too low, then it can be affected by pests, among which are spider mites, mealybugs, aphids, thrips, whitefly or scale insects. Each type of harmful insect is characterized by its own symptoms, but it is easiest to notice a cobweb on the foliage, whitish small midges, green bugs, white cotton-like lumps in internodes, or a sticky coating on the surface of the foliage. If at least one of these manifestations has been identified, then it is recommended to immediately carry out treatment with acaricidal or insecticidal preparations. Then you need to spray the tabernemontana again after a week in order to finally remove the remaining pests that have just emerged.
At the same time, the following problems were noticed when growing tabernemontana:
- The fall of flowers and buds occurs due to sudden changes in temperature or low humidity, and, thus, a simple rotation of the pot with a plant can be affected.
- If the soil sour too much, then the foliage begins to turn yellow, the same happens when the tabernemontana was watered with cold and hard water.
- Excessive or insufficient watering leads to the fact that the edge of the leaf plates begins to darken and dry out, the same effect is exerted by low humidity in the room.
- Dark spotting is formed on foliage with an incorrect watering regime.
- If watering is done with too hard water, then in the near future it will provoke chlorosis - when the color of the leaf turns pale, but all the veins are clearly distinguished on it with a dark green color scheme. It is recommended to feed with iron-containing preparations or acidify water for irrigation.
- Irregular soil moisture will lead to the formation of holes on the leaves.
- With an insufficient level of illumination, the tabernemontana will begin to stretch out shoots and the flowering is not so abundant.
Often, on the reverse side of the leaf plate, the florist may notice the formation of small droplets of a whitish color, which, when dried, change their tone to yellow. In this case, you should not be afraid, since the plant, therefore, due to abundant moisture or sudden temperature changes, is secreting juice from the glands. This does not bring any harm to the flower. If the humidity in the room has dropped significantly, and the temperature indicators have exceeded the permissible limits, then the buds begin to "stick together", and then, without blooming, fly around.
Curious notes about the tabernemontana flower
If you are not sure which representative of the flora in front of you is gardenia or tabernemontana, then, despite their external similarity (they belong to different families), the differences make up the outlines of flowers. In the first plant, they resemble a rose (to some people, its appearance is represented by decorations on the cake), the same strong oily-looking petals with a smooth surface and the same milky or creamy outflow from the flower. When the buds of tabernemontana are dissolved, a bell-shaped corolla is immediately noted, and the surface of its petals has a corrugated structure. In gardenia, flowers generally grow singly, and only occasionally gathering a couple of buds together, the second representative of the green world pleases with corymbose inflorescences, in which the number of buds varies from three to 15 pieces. The color of the flowers does not change over the entire period, and the gardenia at first pleases with snow-white or cream tones of flowers, but over time they turn yellow.
There is another interesting test - in the gardenia shoots and leaf plates there is no milky sap, which is actively released when a branch or leaf is broken in tabernemontana.
Types of tabernemontana
- Tabernemontana divaricata (Tabernaemontana divaricata). It is an evergreen shrub or tree-like plant, the branches of which are distinguished by good branching. Large dark green leaf plates with a glossy surface grow on the shoots. The arrangement of the foliage is opposite, the length of the leaf varies in the range of 15–20 cm, its shape is oblong, and there is a pointed tip at the top. On the back side, transverse veins are clearly visible. The branches on the shrub can grow almost horizontally. During flowering, white flowers are formed, in which the corolla has five petals, characterized by a slight bend in a spiral. Because of this, the surface of the petal appears to be grooved. Flowers can be formed in a simple form or double. There is also a rather persistent aroma, to some it resembles the smell of jasmine. It tends to increase odor in the evening and at night. After pollination, pod-like fruits ripen. Their surface is painted in a dark green color, it can be either smooth or wrinkled. The pulp inside is orange and juicy.
- Elegant tabernemontana (Tabernaemontana elegans). This plant is also distinguished by evergreen deciduous mass and tree-like outlines. Outwardly, this variety is very much reminiscent of the previous one, but its dimensions are somewhat more modest. The aroma of the flowers is not so strong, but the plant has less requirements for cultivation. It can be placed in direct sunlight for longer without damaging flowers and leaves. But it can be noted that this variety is more resistant to frost.
- Tabernemontana crowned (Tabernaemontana coronaria). This type of evergreen tree-like representative of kutrovy has a rather high branching of shoots. On the ropes, there are leaf plates of oval outlines with a pointed apex. In size, the length of the leaf reaches 6-12 cm with a width of about 5-8 cm. The surface of the leaf is shiny, with a bulge between the veins, which are clearly visible on the back, the color of which is lighter. Usually, flower buds are laid at the tops of the shoots, but at the same time it is the awakening of a pair of growth buds located on the sides. By the time the buds begin to bloom, two more small leaves will unfold from such buds. After the flowering is over, the shoots will move into active growth, and after one or two pairs of internodes, the laying of flower buds will again occur, and the bifurcation of the shoot. The shape of the inflorescence is complex-corymbose. It combines many buds, of which there are from three to 15 units. They unfold gradually. At the same time, the flowers are not large, their diameter is 3-5 cm. The shape of the flower is semi-double, there is corrugation along the edge of the petals, which makes them seem even more delicate. The fragrance is distinguished by the subtlety and sophistication of notes; it becomes strongest in newly discovered flowers even at night.
For more information on growing tabernemontana, see the video below:
