Description of the distinctive characteristics of the plant, recommendations for growing a dizigoteca, breeding rules, difficulties and methods of struggle, interesting facts, species. Dizygotheca (Dizygotheca) is part of the family of evergreen plants, bearing the name Araliaceae (Araliaceae), which also includes 17 other varieties. The native habitat is in the Australian continent and the Pacific Islands - Polynesia and New Caledonia.
The plant got its name due to the combination of ancient Greek words: "dis-" meaning "two", "zigos" translated as "bundle" and "theca" - "box". These derivatives provide a decipherment of all the intricacies of the structure of the stamens in the flower, that is, that in the dizigoteca the stamens in their upper part have paired chambers for keeping pollen.
So, this representative of the flora can have parameters in natural growth, varying in height in the range of 6–8 meters. However, when grown indoors, the size is much more modest, only 1.5–2 meters. And with its outlines, it resembles a palm, since there is a bare and unbranched trunk, the bark of which is rough to the touch and painted in a brown shade. The stem begins to lignify over time.
The crown of leaves is located at the top of the trunk, and its span can reach 4 meters. Most of all, the eye is attracted by the long graceful elongated leaves of the plant, with a beautiful serrated edge, as if carved by teeth. The color of young foliage is brown or bronze tint, and over time they acquire a rich dark green, sometimes reaching black color. On the surface, there is a pattern of contrasting shaded veins. Due to their shape, the leaves of the dizigoteca can create the outlines of an openwork cloud. The leaf plate is divided into 7-10 segments, palmate-complex. The leaf lobes can be measured in length from 10 to 30 cm, they are attached to an elongated petiole, reaching up to 40 cm in length. There is a thickening at its base. The shade at the petiole is light, greenish or gray, it can be covered with mottled brown color. On the shoots, the leaves grow in a spiral order.
Flowering is not decorative. The color of the petals is pale green, the flowers are small, of which the apical inflorescences of the umbrella shape are collected.
Tips for growing a dizigoteca, home care
Lighting and location selection. When caring for this plant, it should be remembered that it reacts negatively to direct sunlight, but a full shadow is contraindicated for it. Therefore, it is recommended to put a pot with a dizigoteka on the windowsills of windows facing east or west. If there is no choice, and the direction of the window is south, then curtains are hung on it (curtains made of gauze or simply sheets of paper are attached to the glass) in order to disperse the direct streams of destructive ultraviolet radiation. When the pot is in the northern room, you will have to carry out additional lighting with special phytolamps.
- Content temperature for a dizigoteca in the spring-summer time it should be within 20-24 degrees, and in the autumn-winter period it is permissible for the heat indicators to drop only to the mark of 18 degrees and not lower. The soil should be even warmer anyway. Afraid of drafts and sudden temperature changes. If conditions permit, then you can put the pot with the plant on the veranda, balcony or in the garden for the warm season, but first you should take care of shading from direct rays of light and protection from drafts.
- Watering. In the spring and summer period, it will be necessary to moisten the soil in the dizigoteca pot moderately, but with constant regularity. The main rule in this is to prevent waterlogging of the substrate, therefore, the signal for watering is the drying of the top layer of the soil in the flowerpot. If you allow too much drying of the soil, then the plant will respond by dumping foliage. With the arrival of autumn and throughout the winter, watering is significantly limited. Water for humidification is used only soft, free from lime impurities. River or collected rain liquid can be used (in winter, snow is melted and the liquid is heated to room temperature). Otherwise, tap water is filtered, then it can be boiled and defended for several days. When watering is required, the liquid from the container (where it was) is carefully drained into another container, but in such a way as not to capture the sediment.
- Air humidity. The plant will feel great at an increased level of humidity, for this you will have to spray the foliage of the crown once or twice a day, and also wash the leaf plates. Water is used only soft at room temperature, otherwise whitish spots and stains will appear on the leaves. If spraying is carried out, then the room temperature should not be low and the absence of drafts is also important. Otherwise, this procedure will only harm the dizygotek. Since the plant is very much a moisture lover, it is better to use a "flower window" for cultivation when a glass structure is built that creates conditions of high humidity. Otherwise, you will need to put humidifiers or just a container of water next to the "palm". Some recommend installing a flowerpot with a dizygoteka in a deep and wide container, at the bottom of which a little water is poured and a layer of moisture-absorbing material (expanded clay or pebbles) is poured. This will help raise moisture around the plant. The bottom of the flowerpot should not be immersed in water, so as not to rot the roots.
- Fertilizers for dizigoteca are introduced from the beginning of the appearance of signs of growth (March-April) until late summer. Apply flower dressing or for decorative deciduous plants every 2 weeks.
- Transplanting and soil selection. With regularity, every 2 years, you should change the pot and soil for the plant. A layer of 2-3 cm of drainage is laid on the bottom of the container, which can be broken shards, medium-sized pebbles or expanded clay. The substrate is made up of sod soil, humus and leafy soil in proportions of 2: 2: 1, or you can mix leafy and humus soil, peat soil and river sand (in a ratio of 2: 2: 1: 1). Can be grown in hydroponic material.
- Pruning and shaping the crown. If you do not prune the dizigoteca, then over time it will begin to shed the leaves from the lower part of the crown, which is a natural process. If you do not want to end up with a long, bare trunk with a leafy head, then you will need to periodically carry out molding. This operation is performed on spring days, so that the plant "began" to bush. Even if you pinch the tops of the shoots, this will not give the desired result, you still need to radically cut the stem so that no more than 15 cm remains of it. In this case, this stimulates the awakening of dormant buds, and lateral shoots will form in the dizigoteca, which originate from stem base. In addition, in the process of pruning, the "palm" is rejuvenated.
Do-it-yourself flower propagation rules
It is very difficult to get such a bush at home, therefore, flower growers who want to acquire a dizygotek simply buy a ready-made plant, but there are enthusiasts who are ready to experiment and try their hand at this difficult task.
The method of cuttings is used, when cuttings are cut from the tops of the shoots. The difficulty lies in the fact that it will be necessary to carry out the bottom heating of the soil in the container with plantings. And the cut of the branch before planting is recommended to be treated with a root formation stimulator (for example, Kornevin). Cuttings should be cut from healthy shoots so that the length varies between 7-10 cm. The cut is made directly under the knot, using a sharpened knife, which was previously disinfected. The lower leaves from the branches must be removed, the cut is treated with a stimulant, the remains are shaken off and planted in a moistened prepared peat-sand substrate, crushing the soil around the cutting. The planted branches are covered with a glass jar or wrapped in plastic wrap - this will create the conditions for a mini-greenhouse. The pot with cuttings is placed in a warm place (the temperature should not go beyond 22-25 degrees). It is important not to forget to regularly ventilate and moisten the soil in a container if necessary. When the first shoots appear, this will be evidence that rooting was successful. After that, they begin to remove the shelter little by little, leaving the seedlings for a longer time without it, so that young dizigotecs get used to the conditions of the room. After some time, you should transplant into small pots with a diameter of 7-9 cm and a selected substrate.
If reproduction is carried out with the help of seeds, then this operation is performed in the spring. And be sure to use a mini-greenhouse or just put crops under glass. An earth mixture (peat-sandy soil) is poured into the container and seeds are sealed to a depth of 1 cm, they are sprayed from a finely dispersed spray bottle with warm, settled water. The container with crops is placed in a warm place with diffused lighting. When the first shoots appear, the shelter is removed and the container is transferred to a brighter place, but without direct sunlight. When the seedlings grow up and a couple of leaves appear on them, then transplantation is carried out in separate pots with a diameter of 7-9 cm with suitable soil.
Pests and diseases of the dizigoteca
Most of all, the plant can be affected by thrips, spider mites or scale insects. If signs of a pest are found, then it will be necessary to carry out treatment with a soap or oil solution: the first is prepared from grated laundry soap, diluted in water, infused and strained; the second of a couple of drops of essential rosemary oil dissolved in a liter of water. If, after treatment, harmful insects and their formation have not disappeared, then you will have to spray with insecticidal agents.
All the problems that occur when growing a dizigote are directly related to the violation of growing conditions:
- complete dumping of foliage occurs due to overdrying of the substrate in the flowerpot;
- if the leaves from the lower shoots of the plant began to fly around, then this is a signal of a lack of lighting, especially during the autumn-winter period;
- in the case when the leaves have been in direct sunlight for a long time, brown spots form on the surface;
- if the plant begins to lag behind in growth and the leaf plates become smaller, then the reason for this is a lack of nutrients or depletion of the substrate;
- when the temperature in the room drops or there are sharp changes in heat indicators, foliage begins to drop;
- with the drooping of the leaves and their further wilting, the substrate was flooded;
- also drooping and darkened leaf lobes indicate too low temperatures in the room;
- when the leaves are covered with a whitish bloom, then this is evidence of the use of hard water when watering and spraying.
Important!!! The plant contains toxic substances in all its parts, and it should be looked after by wearing gloves for protection. You also need to take care that access to small children and pets is limited to the dizygotek.
Interesting facts about dizygotek
At the moment, the genus Dizigoteka has been abolished and its botanical name has changed to Schifflera elegantissim, although the leaves of the species are slightly different.
The most famous of the "relatives" of the dizigoteca is ginseng. Flowering does not occur under indoor growing conditions. The main supplier of this openwork plant is the Netherlands.
Types of dizigotek
Dizygoteka elegant (Dizygotheca elegantissima) can also be found under the name of the most elegant Dizygoteka. It is an evergreen tree-like or shrub-like plant. Usually it practically does not branch, the trunk is covered with a brown bark, rough to the touch. Erect shoots, directed straight up.
The leaf plates are arranged in sequential order at the tops of the shoots. They are attached to elongated petioles that measure 40 cm and have a thickening at the base. Its color is light, grayish-green, there is a brown speck on the entire surface. The leaf itself is palmate, it can be up to 4–11 leaf lobes. These leaves are up to 30 cm in length, have linear outlines or linear-lanceolate, when the plant is young, then such leaf segments are smaller and narrower, only 11 cm in length and 1 cm in width. wavy, the surface is devoid of pubescence. The foliage is dark greenish brown. Each leaf lobe also has a petiole.
When flowering, buds are formed of small sizes, a rather nondescript appearance. From the flowers are collected multi-flowered inflorescences, umbrella-shaped, located at the tops of flowering stems. There are 5 petals in the bud. The color of the petals is pale greenish. Flowering time is in late summer and September. After flowering, the fruit ripens in the form of a rounded berry of a dark brown color.
The habitat of this species is the territory of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. The growth rate of this species is very low, but over time, the height reaches 2 meters. Although in natural conditions, these indicators are close to 5-8 meters with a crown width of up to 2-4 meters. Over time, the leaves turn from copper-red to dark emerald. Most of all it is grown as an indoor crop.
This species is the progenitor of the following varieties:
- Castor, with short leaf lobes (with a length of only 9 cm and a width of up to 1.5 cm) and a small number of them (no more than 3 units). The surface of the leaves is colored dark green with a pattern of yellowish veins. Leaves with coarse serration along the edge.
- Bianca very similar to the previous cultivar, but here the leaf lobes along the edge are painted in a cream or whitish shade against a dark green background (variegated). The veins adorning the surface are a rich light purple color scheme.
- Gemini unlike all previous species, it has leaves of oval or ovoid outlines, rather than rounded, and the number of leaf segments can vary within 3-5 units, with a width of up to 3-4 cm. The edge of the leaf is large serrate.
Often the plant can be found under synonymous names - Aralia elegant or Shefflera elegant.
- Dizygotheca Veitchii very similar to the elegant Dizigoteca variety, but differs in a larger width of leaf lobes (these sizes can be up to 5 cm) and a wavy edge or the presence of a jagged edge. However, the length is shorter. The color of the leaves varies from light to dark green, and a paler edge may be present or the entire leaf will be solid.
- Dizygotheca Kerchoveana practically indistinguishable from the Veitch variety, only its foliage color is paler.
- Dizygotheca Gracillima also, unlike the graceful dizigoteca variety, this variety has leaves with a lighter color, wavy and wider along the edge. Also in height, this shrub is the lowest of all types.
More about dizygotek in this video:
