Distinctive features of the pseudo-erantemum, rules for caring for a flower, breeding steps, difficulties in growing, facts for the curious, species. According to botanical taxonomy, Pseuderanthemum belongs to the genus of flowering flora, which are part of the Acanthaceae family. It combines dicotyledonous plants (when in the embryo a pair of cotyledons is located opposite each other). There are up to 60 species in the genus, the habitat of its growth, revere the tropical parts of the entire globe, but nevertheless, the native places are the territories of Polynesia (there are up to 1000 islands). In these places, pseudo-erantemums can be found in tropical forests, in savannas, in swamps, or they can spread in park areas as weeds. Some of the species of these plants are well known to flower growers and have won love as an ornamental home culture.
Its name is due to its similarity with erantemums, the translation of the scientific name of this representative of the acanthus family means "erranos" - beloved and "anthos", meaning flower. But since we wanted to distinguish the pseudo-erantemum with its “brother” by family, this is reflected in the name by the presence of the word “pseudo” from Latin meaning “false”.
Among all pseudo-erantemums, there are specimens that take the form of perennial grasses, dwarf shrubs or shrubs. Their height parameters vary in the range of 0, 3–1, 5 m. Based on this, it can be understood that these plants can take on rather large dimensions and their straight-growing shoots are easily elongated, although they are often devoid of branching. Therefore, when grown indoors, their size is recommended to be limited in width and height to 40-50 cm, since only small bushes look more decorative.
The leaf plates of the pseudo-erantemum take on a variety of contours: they can be elliptical, narrow-lanceolate or obovate. The length of the leaf is measured no more than 10-15 cm. The surface of the foliage is glossy, as if treated with wax, with a pronounced texture - with wrinkles or local swelling and bulging. Moreover, despite this, the sheet is soft and rather fragile to the touch. The color of the foliage also varies greatly - it takes on different shades of green color (from light tone to almost dark black), there are spots of purple, violet and another shade on the surface.
In the process of flowering, spike-shaped inflorescences are formed, which are collected from flowers of white color. Inflorescences are located at the tops of the shoots or occasionally in the leaf axils. The corolla of the flower is tubular, often in the central part there is a red spot and on the petals there is a speck of various shades of pink or red.
When fruiting, a seed capsule appears, moreover, pseudo-erantemums, like all representatives of the Akantov family, have the ability to "shoot" seed material when the fruit is fully ripe. This helps to propagate long distances from the parent specimen during reproduction. For this, all these plants are called "shooting".
Despite the fact that the pseudo-erantemum is rather unassuming to care for, it also has a high growth rate, and during the season the shoots can lengthen up to 10-15 cm. Basically, since this plant will not please with flowering in the rooms, it is grown because of the beautiful outlines and color of foliage, which resembles a ficus. For cultivation, the conditions of florariums are suitable, where it is much easier to create the necessary indicators of heat and humidity.
Tips for growing pseudo-erantemum, plant care
- Lighting. You need a bright, but diffused light - the east or west orientation of the windows, but backlighting is recommended in winter.
- Content temperature in spring and summer it is 22-25 degrees, and in winter not lower than 20. Pseudorantemum is afraid of a draft and a sharp fluctuation in temperature indicators.
- Air humidity maintained quite high, therefore year-round spraying of deciduous mass is recommended. Especially such an operation is needed in the winter, when the batteries are working.
- Watering. For a whole year, the plant needs abundant watering, as the top layer of the substrate dries out. Due to the large size of the leaves, moisture evaporates intensively from their surface, so the soil dries out very quickly. Drying the soil will lead to the release of foliage. However, waterlogging will lead to rotting of the roots. The water is soft and warm.
- Fertilizers. Since the surface of the leaf plates of the pseudo-erantemum is quite large and there is a high growth rate, a significant amount of dressings will be required. With the advent of vegetative activity (spring-summer), it is recommended to fertilize once every 20-30 days. The preparations should be dominated by a greater amount of phosphorus and especially potassium. Phosphorus helps to strengthen vegetative organs, and potassium in fertilizers is needed to increase the brightness of the foliage color. If there is a lot of nitrogen in the preparations, then the variegated forms of the color of the leaf plates may disappear in the variegative forms. The plant responds well to organic fertilizing, for example, dry rotted manure, it is recommended to pour it over the soil and then water it. During the period when forced rest comes, feeding is not worth it.
- Pruning a pseudo-erantum. During its growth, the plant sheds the lower foliage and the shoots are exposed. Moreover, the more branching, the more spectacular such a bush has. For this, it is recommended to regularly pinch the branches and prune them. Thus, you can give the bush the desired shape. Since most of the varieties have shoots growing vertically upwards, the branches are bent to the soil with the help of a flexible cord. To do this, one end is tied to a branch, and the other is wrapped around a flowerpot.
- Transplantation and advice on choosing a substrate. Since young pseudo-erantemums have a high growth rate at a young age, the pot and soil should be changed annually. At the same time, the pot increases by 2–3 cm in diameter, since the root system will need more space for growth. If the container is too small, then next year the plant will begin to shed foliage in the lower part. Holes are made in the new pot to drain the water. A layer of drainage material (medium-sized expanded clay, tracing paper or broken ceramic shards) is placed in the disinfected container. The drainage height should be about 1/4 of the entire height of the tank, only then a layer of soil is laid out. Then the pseudo-erantemum is removed from the old pot, the roots are examined, trimmed a little and sprinkled with activated carbon powder. After planting the plant, the soil does not settle down much, watering is carried out along the edge of the pot. The first time after transplanting, the bush should be kept in partial shade so that adaptation takes place, then, when signs of growth appear, you can put the pot in a permanent place. When the pseudo-erantemum becomes an adult, the pot and soil are changed every 3-4 years. The rules for changing the soil and flowerpot do not change. The transplanting substrate should be light and permeable to air and water. The acidity of the soil is selected to be neutral or it can be slightly acidic. Prepare the soil from sod and leafy soil, in a ratio of 1: 3, or mix equal parts of sod, leafy soil, river sand (perlite), adding peat or humus soil there.
Self-propagation of pseudo-erantemum
Basically, the reproduction of this representative of the acanthus is by cuttings.
In spring, blanks are cut from semi-lignified shoots or stem (herbaceous) shoots are taken. The length of the cutting is 5–8 cm and it must have at least a couple of knots. Then the cuttings are planted in pots with a moistened peat-sand mixture (parts are taken equal). Before planting, the sections should be treated with a root formation stimulator (it can be Kornevin or heteroauxin). Then the containers with cuttings are covered with plastic wrap or placed under a cut plastic bottle (you can take a glass jar). The germination temperature is maintained at 25-28 degrees. The place in which the pot with cuttings is placed should be light, but without direct streams of sunlight.
Caring for cuttings is to ventilate every day and if the soil is dry, then moisten it with soft warm water. As soon as the cuttings take root, then young pseudo-erantemums should be transplanted in separate containers, in each it is recommended to place 2-3 seedlings. The soil is selected, as well as for transplanting an adult specimen. As the seedlings grow, they pinch the shoots 2-3 cm to stimulate branching.
Often, flower growers simply put cuttings in a vessel with water in which a little Kornevin is dissolved, in this case, when roots appear on the cuttings and their length reaches more than 1 cm, they can immediately be planted in pots.
Diseases and pests arising from the cultivation of pseudo-erantemum in room conditions
In principle, the plant does not impose increased requirements for care, but some problems may arise due to violation of the rules of maintenance, namely:
- foliage falling due to drying out of the root system;
- the tips of the leaves dry out with low humidity in the room;
- if the lighting is excessive, then brown spots are formed on the foliage of the pseudo-erantemum and the tops of the leaves dry out;
- falling leaves and their yellowing is a consequence of low air humidity when the soil is waterlogged;
- stretching shoots, crushing foliage sizes, blanching of color occurs with insufficient lighting.
When the watering regime is not sustained, and the substrate is constantly in a wet state, this will lead to root rot. You will have to transplant into a new pot with new soil, but before that, all damaged roots are removed and treatment with a fungicidal preparation is necessary.
At low humidity, harmful insects may appear on the pseudo-erantemum - spider mites, scale insects, mealybugs or whiteflies. In this case, the foliage is wiped with a soap, oil or alcohol solution and then spraying with insecticidal or acaricidal preparations is performed. Re-processing is carried out after a week to remove the last manifestations of pests (eggs or honeydew).
Facts about the pseudo-erantemum for the curious
In the culture of pseudo-erantemums, when grown, because of their spotted multi-colored foliage, they are used as an ornamental plant, if the variety is undersized, then it is cultivated as a ground cover.
This representative of the flora has long been known to mankind, if we rely on reliable data, then this time begins with antiquity. Proof of this is the floral ornaments, in which the foliage of the pseudo-erantemums is imprinted on friezes or capitals, which were common in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and were also used by the architects of Byzantium. Representatives of the acanthus family have become entrenched in the heraldry of a large number of states, which includes Russia (the Ulyanovsk region is taken into account). Even today, artists use variations of acanthus leaves and inflorescences in their robots.
Currently, many of the species of pseudo-erantemum are united under a single name: for example, the varieties of dark purple and mesh steel Pseudo-erantemum dark crimson, which is called according to the nomenclature of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (a complex of botanical gardens and greenhouses in the south-west region of London) as Erantemum dark magenta or Pseudarantemum dark purple. Also, the notched variety began to unite under the guise of Pseudorantemum long-flowered.
Types of pseudo-erantemum
- Pseudoerantemum dark purple (Pseuderanthemum atropurpureum) is a shrub, reaching shoots up to a height of 120 cm. Stems are glabrous, tetrahedral in cross-section, with branching. On the branches, large leaves with oval or ovoid outlines are arranged in opposite order, there is a sharpening at the top, the edge is solid. The length of the leaf plate is 7–15 cm with a width of up to 4–10 cm. The petioles of the leaves are short, the color of the foliage is pinkish-red on the upper side (occasionally greenish), with green or yellowish specks on the surface. On the reverse side, the color scheme is green with a slight reddish tint. When blooming, buds are formed with white petals covered with purple spots. The flowers gather at the tops of the shoots, in complex racemose inflorescences up to 15 cm long. The corolla of the flower, like the calyx, differs in five parts. The calyx is reddish or yellow. The corolla has the shape of a wheel or a funnel, its length is no more than 3 cm. There is a bend that does not exceed the size of the tube; there are cilia along the edge. There is a variety of Tricolor and Variegata, which are distinguished by an even greater variety of shades on the foliage. In culture, plants have been grown since the 19th century.
- Pseudoerantemum reticulated (Pseuderanthemum reticulatum). It grows in the form of a shrub, the height of which varies from half a meter to a meter. Leaf plates pointed at the top. Leaf length does not exceed 12-15 cm, petioles are short. The foliage is green with a pattern of golden yellow stripes on the surface. The surface itself is wavy. When blooming, white flowers are formed with a diameter of about 3.5 cm, crowning short pedicels. The pharynx of the corolla is shaded red.
- Pseudoerantemum notched (Pseuderanthemum sinuatum). This variety has a herbaceous form of growth, its height is no more than half a meter. On the shoots there are narrow-lanceolate leaves, along the edge of which there are notches (which gave the name to the species). The length of the leaf is 15 cm with a width of about 2 cm. The color on the upper side is olive green, the opposite is shaded with red. When blooming, the petals of the buds are painted white, they are covered with purple-red spots.
- Pseudoerantemum tuberous (Pseuderanthemum tuberculatum) is a low-growing shrub plant, the shoots of which have good branching, they spread horizontally. Because of this, the variety can be used as a ground cover. Stems are thin, covered with warty projections. The leaves on the branches are arranged in an opposite order, in a pair they are unequal, their shape is oval to rounded, there is waviness along the edge. The length of the sheet plate is 1–3 cm. The surface is glossy. During flowering, numerous buds are formed. The color of the flowers is snow-white, they are usually located one at a time in the leaf axils. The length of the flower corolla is up to 4 cm. The corolla tube is thin, almost filiform, there is a slight expansion on top, and at the top there is a five-membered limb reaching 3–3.5 cm in diameter. The flowering process lasts almost the whole year. Territories of native growth fall on the lands of New Caledonia.
Learn more about the plant in the following video:
