General description of hemigraphis, agricultural techniques for cultivation, advice on independent plant propagation, diseases and pests, interesting facts, species. Often indoor plants are grown not only for the sake of beautiful flowers, but also the leaf plates of some representatives of the flora, with their outlines and coloring, delight the owners. Among such specimens with unusual colors of leaves, the Hemigraphis stands out, which will be discussed.
This specimen of the green world of the planet belongs to the Acanthaceae family and takes a herbaceous or ampelous form of growth, it is often used as a ground cover crop. This genus includes about 100 species, which settled mainly in Asian territories, which are located in the east or southeast of our continent, as well as in the lands of Australia and the United States, wherever a tropical climate prevails.
Hemigraphis got its name due to the very decorative coloring of leaf plates, the first species that was described in the literature and therefore the name of the plant combined two Greek words reflecting this feature - "hemi", which translates as "half" and "gratis", meaning " coloring, painted ". But a simple transliteration of the Latin name is often found, according to which the name of the plant sounds like Hemigraphis.
This flowery representative of the flora can have both a one-year and a two-year life cycle, remaining leafy for this time. The height of the hemiraphises that grow in the wild can reach 50-60 cm, and those that are grown indoors rarely exceed 15-20 cm. This exotic bush is no more than 45 cm wide. Its shoots are creeping, creeping, often easily rooting, when reaching the soil at the nodes.
Hemignaphis leaf plates are distinguished by ovoid outlines and a beautiful jagged edge. Depending on the intensity of illumination, the plant changes the color of its leaves: when shaded, they cast reddish-silvery tones, if they are in direct sunlight, then their color becomes purple-metallic from the upper side, and the opposite color becomes wine-red. Because of this, the plant is often called chameleon. The petioles are slightly pubescent. The arrangement of the leaf plates is opposite (opposite each other). The surface of the leaves in some varieties is smooth and glossy, and there are those in which it resembles a crinkled fabric due to tubercles and stripes.
Flowering occurs at the beginning of the summer period, but the flowers do not attract the eye either by shape or color. They are small in size, whitish in color, and loose inflorescences with the contours of an "ear" or "head" are collected from the buds.
If conditions allow, then hemigraphis is grown in personal plots as a decorative ground cover or in rooms in hanging baskets, as an ampelous plant. In America, this half-colored bush is quite common and is cultivated there almost everywhere. Although the plant is not an aquarium, it is talked about when it is recommended to decorate your home "backwaters" for fish. This chameleon-like bush is quite easy to cultivate, but it will require the fulfillment of some prerequisites for its growth. And for this, terrariums, aquariums or "flower windows" are used, in which you can set constant indicators of temperature and humidity. At the same time, the hemigraphis does not require the owner to create conditions for cold wintering, and it will look very good as a low-growing ground cover crop in large pots and tubs next to palm trees, dieffenbachia, yucca and many other tall "sauces". However, with other representatives of the acanthus family, this "colorful" will look good, such can be, for example, fittonia or miniature begonias, some varieties of sigonium or philodendron, differing in dwarf parameters.
Growing hemigraphis, home care
- Lighting and location selection. For greater brightness of the leaf plates, it is recommended to grow the plant in diffused bright lighting, which happens to the east or west directions of the windows. If the hemigraphis is located in the southern location of the window, then shading will be required to prevent sunburn of the leaves. However, on the northern side of the rooms, additional lighting will have to be carried out, especially if the temperature is high in winter, otherwise the shoots will stretch out strongly.
- Content temperature. The plant is thermophilic and in the spring and summer months the room temperature is maintained (approximately 20-25 degrees). It does not tolerate heat and stuffiness, so if the temperature rises above 30 degrees, regular ventilation of the room will be required. At night it is important that the heat indicators do not fall below 15. But with the arrival of autumn, it will be necessary to lower the temperature to 17-18 degrees and, at a minimum, it should not fall below 14.
- Air humidity relatively high is required so that its level does not fall below 50%. To do this, it is recommended to carry out frequent spraying, and in winter, when the air in the room is dry, you need to put the pot with hemigraphis in a wide and deep tray, at the bottom of which expanded clay is poured or chopped sphagnum moss is laid. A little water is poured there, but it is important that the liquid level does not touch the bottom of the pot.
- Watering the hemigraphis. As soon as the plant begins to actively develop with the arrival of the spring months, then moistening is carried out regularly, as soon as the top layer of the substrate in the pot dries out. But completely drying the earthen coma cannot be allowed. If the content is cool in winter, then watering is reduced, and moistening is carried out only 2-3 days after the topsoil dries out. If the leaves have wilted, then it is worth watering the bush abundantly and the turgor of the foliage will be restored. But in case of waterlogging, the root system decays quickly. Only soft water is used, which has settled for several days.
- Fertilizers for the "chameleon bush" in the spring-summer period, they are introduced (you need to start from April to September) with regularity every 14 days. Fertilizers are used for decorative deciduous indoor plants in liquid form.
- Transfer hemigraphis and soil selection. Naturally, over time, the substrate on the surface may become saline and then it will need to be changed, while a gray or red bloom appears on the top (similar to ash or rust, respectively). The plant does not tolerate this at all and an early transplant will be required. Also, this will have to be done when the hemigraphis has grown greatly and the capacity in which it grows has become small for it. But in some sources it is recommended to carry out transplants annually. It is better to choose wider than deep pots, as the stems tend to creep along the surface of the soil. A layer of drainage of 2 cm is laid on the bottom (for example, medium-frakionic expanded clay or pebbles, crushed foam plastic, broken shards), and drain holes are made in the very bottom of the pot, but their size should be such that the drainage does not fall out.
The primer can be mixed independently from the following components:
- sod soil and leafy soil, humus substrate, small pebbles and vermiculite or crushed pine bark (in proportions 1: 1: 1: 1: 0, 5);
- sod, leafy soil, humus soil, river sand or crushed pine bark (all parts are equal).
In order for a beautiful bush to be formed in the future, it is necessary to pinch the apical buds.
Diy hemigraphis propagation tips
The plant is easily rooted using stem cuttings, like any of the representatives of the Acanthus family. To do this, it is necessary to engage in breeding in the spring or summer period of the year. It is recommended to simply separate the top of the stem (cutting), measuring 7–10 cm in length, from the mother bush, remove the two lower leaves from it and put it in a container with boiled water. You don't even need to cover the branches with plastic wrap. After about a week or two, root shoots form on the cuttings, and when they reach 3-4 cm in length, you can plant them in pots with suitable soil or just in moistened sand. Now they put a glass jar on top or wrap it up with a plastic bag to create the conditions for a mini-greenhouse. The rooting temperature should fluctuate between 25-28 degrees. If propagation is carried out in the summer months, then cuttings take root in about a month.
Difficulties in plant cultivation
Most often, a spider mite, aphid or a scabbard becomes a problem for hemigraphis when humidity readings fall in the room. At the same time, a light spot appears on the leaf plates, and the color gradually fades, a thin cobweb can be seen between the leaves and leaf internodes. They can also be covered with a sweet, sugary bloom, and creeping bugs or small brown plaques on the back of the leaves are visible. Over time, the leaves dry out and fly around. It will be necessary to treat the plant with insecticidal agents (for example, Karbaphos, Aktellik, Neoron or Aktara). If the lesion is very strong, then after a week, the treatment is repeated.
When a florist noticed that a colorful bush is growing very slowly, then this should not be a cause for concern, since the growth rate of hemigraphis is very slow.
The rest of the reasons occur when the conditions for keeping the plant are violated:
- in case of insufficient watering or lack of nutrients, as well as low temperatures, hemigraphis leaf plates acquire a yellow tint;
- if the tips of the leaves began to dry out, then this is a consequence of a decrease in the humidity of the air in the room, but the same is observed when exposed to cold air, if the leaves touch cold windows in winter or insufficient watering has occurred;
- when the substrate is very waterlogged, the heat indices dropped sharply, or when watering was used hard water, then a brown spot appears on the leaf plates.
Interesting facts about hemigraphis
There are varieties of hemigraphis that are actively used in folk medicine, for example, Hemigras colored, which is found on the island lands of Java, Malacca and the Philippines. But it is based on drugs that are used in the treatment of dysentery, hemorrhoids, as well as external wounds or ulcers. Often magicians use sheet plates in performances of chewing broken glass.
Often hemigraphis varieties are used as a ground cover or ampelous flower, but due to the high demands on humidity and heat, it does not grow for a long time, therefore it is recommended to grow it in a “flower window” - a device where you can easily set the required temperature and humidity indicators.
Types of hemigraphis
- Wide hemigraphis (Hemigraphis repanda) is a low-growing plant with shoots painted in a reddish tone and widely spreading to the sides. If the stem reaches the surface of the soil, then it is quickly rooting in the nodes. The tops of the stems are raised above the ground. The leaf plates have elongated lanceolate outlines, with deep notches along the edge. They are measured at a length of 6 cm with a width reaching 1.5 cm. The color on the upper surface of the leaf is dark, saturated violet-greenish, and the reverse side is reddish. Inflorescences are located at the tops of the stems, have the shape of a head. Small buds with a narrow funnel-shaped corolla are collected in it. The length of the flower does not exceed 15 mm, the color is whitish. Basically, the areas in the humid forests of the Malay Archipelago are considered to be the native habitat.
- Hemigraphis alternata can be found under the name Red Ivy. This variety also does not differ in high growth, rarely exceeding 40-60 cm in height. Shoots grow creeping on the surface of the ground (creeping) with a brown color, easily rising to a height of 3–7 cm, have the property of easy rooting at the nodes. The leaf plates are placed opposite each other, their shape is ovoid. They do not exceed 7–9 cm in length and up to 6 cm in width. At the base, their contours resemble a heart, the edge is crenate, the color is silvery with gray-green, but most often they grow in a lilac color. The surface of the sheet is glossy, and the reverse side casts a purple-red tone. Each leaf has a 5–7 cm long petiole, brown, pubescent. Inflorescences collected from small flowers grow on the tops of the stems. Their length is no more than 1 cm, the petals are white. The shape of the buds is bell-shaped, lobed. The variety grows in tropical rainforests in southeast Asia. It is used as an ampelous or ground cover crop.
- Colored hemigraphis (Hemigraphis colorata) found under the name Hemigraphis colorata, as well as Flaming Ivy. The plant is herbaceous with a long life cycle, highly decorative and growing, turns into a bush with luxurious outlines. The native habitat is in the islands of Java, Malacca and the Philippines. Reaches 25 cm in height, with creeping shoots, rooting easily when the knot reaches the soil surface. The leaf plates have a wrinkled surface and a purple-blue color with a metallic sheen on the upper side and a red-violet color on the back. The flowers are whitish, very small and inconspicuous. Recommended to grow in terrariums or flower windows. It is used in folk medicine as a hemostatic agent for external ulcers and wounds, hemorrhoids and dysentery.
- Gemigraphis colored "Exotica" (Hemigraphis colorata "Exotica") or as it is called Hemigraphis exotic or Hemigraphis "Exotica". It can be used as an aquarium plant, although it is not, it is often used to decorate terrariums. Its height can reach 40 cm. If the plant is placed in cold water, then the color of its foliage does not change, otherwise its purple tint acquires a simple green tint, and a reddish tone is visible only on the back side of the leaf plate, next to the veins. The stem of the bush is upright, but there is the possibility of lateral processes growing, from which lateral branches will subsequently form. Therefore, it seems that the plant is creeping. The leaves that grow above the water level in the container have a wrinkled surface, since there is a tuberosity along it, which is why hemigraphis is often called "waffle cloth" among the people. The shape of the leaf plate is elongated-ovoid, but under water, their outlines become more elongated. On the outside, the color is greenish with a silvery tint, and on the back there is a burgundy-reddish color scheme. If the plant is under the surface of the water, then from the outside, the color changes to silver. But in bright light, the entire appearance of the foliage becomes a rich purple hue. Sometimes hemigraphis is remotely compared to Gigrofila pinnacle.
What a hemigraphis looks like, see the following video:
