Features of the structure of the plant, recommendations for caring for drymonia, breeding rules, fight against diseases and pests, interesting facts, types. Drymonia is a flowering plant that is related to the Episcieae tribe of the Gesneriaceae family. At present, the number of these representatives of the flora already fluctuates around 140 units. Some of the varieties grow on the surface of the soil, but there are varieties that lead an epiphytic lifestyle (that is, when they choose a place for their life on the branches or trunks of trees). There are some that have a herbal form of growth, but lianas, plants with shrub or semi-shrub outlines are also included here. For their comfort, they like to "settle" in forests with high humidity, located on the plains or in the mountains. The lands of Central and South America, which stretch from Mexico and the Caribbean to the regions of Brazil and Bolivia, are considered to be their home territories for the Drimonia. The very center of all the diversity of these representatives of the Gesneriev family falls on the zones of Colombia and neighboring Ecuador.
The plant got its scientific name from the Greek word "drymos", which means "oak, tree" or "wood". Apparently, this was due to the fact that many of the species lead an epiphytic lifestyle, and for their growth they settle on the trunks of trees or even on their fallen remains, that is, in any case, their life is connected, in one way or another, with wood.
When growing under natural conditions of growth, drimonia forms upright stems with tetrahedral or cylindrical outlines. They can reach 5 meters in height, have good branching, and it happens that adventitious root processes appear in internodes. The leaf plates are distinguished by elliptical contours, with a sharpening at the top, and along the edge there is a serration, their placement on the shoots is opposite. The surface of the leaf can be either smooth, and most often the foliage grows pubescent, as if velvety to the touch, occasionally the leaf plate can be leathery, covered with wrinkles.
The length of the leaf reaches 20 cm. The color directly depends on the variety and can be very different, as the shade above and below the leaf plate differs. The color of the leaf changes from a light greenish tone to dark red, there is a burgundy color or foliage with an almost black color. Above, the leaf is usually bright with a green color scheme, and on the reverse side, the tone darkens and differs in contrast.
When blooming, cluster-type buds appear, they have a tubular or funnel-shaped corolla. From flowers, racemose inflorescences are collected in several buds, as well as flowers can be arranged singly. They originate in the leaf axils at the very stem. The color of the flowers is very bright and the look is spectacular, the petals can take on snow-white, cream, yellowish tones, and also buds with orange, red and purple petals grow. Often the sepals are large in size, and their size is practically not inferior to the flower itself. Sepals are spliced and also have a bright color, the neck is wide and there are two pairs of stamens inside. Flowers are striking in their outlines, as it seems that they are molded from wax. The edge of the petals can be solid, but the most appreciated varieties are those in which it is as if cut with scissors and has a serration.
After flowering, the fruit ripens in the form of a fleshy capsule that takes on a conical shape. Its color is bright orange or pleasant salmon. The inside of the capsule is filled with many seeds. But even after the flowers dry up and the fruits ripen, the spectacular cup remains on the drymonium and adds decorativeness to it.
However, on the territory of Russia, this plant is not popular with flower growers, unlike relatives of gesneria or violets. Although she, like the "sisters", does not have any special requirements for care.
Drimonia growing conditions, home care
- Lighting. The plant needs to create conditions similar to natural - the level of illumination is high, but without direct UV fluxes. Otherwise, the midday sun's rays on the foliage will cause burns, and this will also lead to the fall of flowers. It is better to place the drimonium pot on the window sills facing east or west. In winter or in the northern room, the plant will be comfortable with supplementary lighting.
- Content temperature. It is recommended to withstand heat indicators within the range of 20-22 degrees in the spring and summer months. Since this is a representative of the subtropics, it does not have a pronounced rest period, but in winter all processes in drymonia are inhibited. Therefore, with the arrival of autumn, it is possible to reduce the heat indices to 16-18 degrees.
- Air humidity when growing should be increased. It is recommended to place the plant in aquariums or terrariums, in other cases the moisture level is increased by daily spraying (drops of moisture should not get on the flowers and leaves due to their pubescence).
- Watering. In the spring and summer months, the soil in the dirmonium pot is moderately moistened as the topsoil dries out. With the arrival of autumn and during winter days, watering is reduced, especially if the plant is kept at low temperatures - after 2-3 days after the top of the soil crumbles in a pinch. Water for irrigation is used only soft and well-settled or distilled. Stagnation of water in a stand under a flowerpot is strictly prohibited, otherwise the roots will begin to rot. After 30 minutes from watering, the liquid is drained from the stand.
- Fertilizers for drymonia, they are introduced at the beginning of spring days, when the plant begins to show signs of activity. Apply complete complex preparations of mineral dressings. And with the arrival of the flowering period, it is already possible to apply funds for flowering indoor plants to extend the life of the flowers, otherwise the buds on the plant will last only 3-5 days. Regularity - every two weeks.
- Transplant and soil selection. As the drymonia grows, you need to change the pot and the soil in it. When the plant is young, this procedure is annual, and over time it is carried out only once every 2-3 years. The transplant should be timed to the period of early spring. Planting in a new container is carried out at the same level at which the plant was in the old pot - without deepening the root collar. 2-3 cm of drainage material must be poured onto the bottom. Due to the fact that the root system of drymonia is fibrous and fibrous, the new container is selected shallow and its height should not be larger than the measurement in diameter.
When transplanting, the substrate is selected with a weak acidity or neutral, rather loose, preferably based on peat. You can use ready-made soil mixtures - "Saintpaulia" or "Begonia", where it is recommended to mix disinfected river sand, vermiculite or chopped sphagnum moss (not dried). Also, some growers prepare the substrate on their own from leafy soil, peat soil and coarse sand, maintaining a ratio of 2: 2: 1.
DIY tips for breeding drimonia
To get a new plant with wax-like flowers and painted foliage, you will need to sow seeds, cuttings or dividing an overgrown bush.
Even indoors, it is possible for some species to obtain seed. However, using this method, growers practically do not propagate drymonia when there are lighter ones. It is possible to propagate by division when the bush has offspring in the root section, but this is rare.
The easiest way to do cuttings is a leaf or stem in early spring. You can embed a healthy leaf with a shank or an apical stem shank with a size of at least 10 cm and 2-3 nodes. The cuttings should be placed both in a vessel with water and wait for the roots to appear, and they should be planted in the ground. The substrate is selected loose - peat-sandy. When planting stem cuttings, the lower leaf plates are removed, the cut can be treated with a root formation stimulator and buried in the soil. It is imperative to wrap the cuttings in a plastic bag or place them under a cut plastic bottle. Then the planted branches are placed in a warm place with diffused lighting. The temperature is maintained at 22-25 degrees. It is necessary to air the cuttings daily, and if the soil is dry, moisten it with a spray bottle.
After 3-5 weeks, the branches take root and they can be planted in separate containers with a selected substrate.
Pests and diseases in the cultivation of drimonium
Of the problems in growing drimonia, they distinguish: the lack of flowering and the reason for this may be an insufficient level of illumination, and also if the substrate is waterlogged, rotting of the root system is possible. In the first case, it will be necessary to transfer the plant to a more illuminated place, but shading from direct sunlight, in the second, it will be necessary to carry out an urgent transplant into a new soil with preliminary treatment with fungicidal preparations.
Of the pests that infect the plant, aphids, mealybugs and spider mites can be distinguished. With the manifestation of these parasites, the plant stops growing, the leaf plates are deformed, turn yellow and fall off, all the leaves begin to cover either a thin cobweb, or cotton-like formations appear in the internodes or on the back of the leaf, and aphids are completely visible to the naked eye (green or black small bugs). In any of these cases, an insecticidal treatment will be required.
Interesting facts about drimonia
To date, this genus has become the most extensive (in the morphological sense) of the Gesneriev family, since it has already included representatives from the genera Alloplectus, Paradrymonia and Nautilocalyx.
Types of drimonia
- Drymonia chiribogana also sometimes called Drimonia of Chiribog. This variety is natural and has a shrub growth. Branching shoots, which will form a compact bush. The leaf plates are oval, painted in greenish-olive tones with longitudinal veins, they stand out beautifully on the surface with a silvery-nacreous color scheme. When the leaf is young, it is dark brown or dark greenish; with age, the above shade and stripes appear. When flowering, a medium-sized bud appears, with a tubular corolla. Its color is snow-white on the outside, the petals are shaded with a mandzhet-purple color scheme. The edge of the petals is fringed, as if cut. The pharynx has a yellowish color and maroon stripes diverge from it to the petals, which are decoratively distinguished by contrast against the light background of the base. Flowers appear only on mature and mature shoots. After pollination has passed, fruits with original contours (capsules) appear, while the sepals remain and decorate the plant with a whitish color scheme. The native territories of this species are the lands of Colombia and Ecuador.
- Drymonia oinochrophylla. This natural species was first described by Donnell Smith. When flowering, buds appear with bell-shaped outlines and bracts, painted in a yellowish tone, the tube is snow-white, and the petals have a fuchsia tint. The leaf plates are medium-sized, their color is saturated bright green, the surface is glossy. This variety is grown as an ampelous crop.
- Drymonia serrulata Maranguape is a natural species and ampelous form, so the shoots are thin and creeping. The color of the stems is light greenish, there are root processes in the nodes, which make it possible to reproduce by layering. The leaf plates are oval in shape with a dark green color and a jagged edge. On the surface of the leaf, depressed veins are very clearly visible, which add decorativeness. The leaves are attached to the shoots with petioles, the size of which is three times smaller than the surface of the leaf plate. The length of the leaf is 15–20 cm. The petioles have a burgundy-green shade.
- Drymonia ecuadorensis is the most popular species among florists for indoor cultivation. The name clearly speaks of its native habitat - Ecuador. This variety is represented by a large number of varieties. Most of all, those plants in which leaf plates have a variegated color attract attention. The leaf plate is distinguished by a green tint and veins in a shaded and silver tone, as well as a red-brown tint on the underside. The leaves are lanceolate in shape and they are a very decorative background for flowers, with a tubular corolla, as if molded from wax. The petal edge may be fringed. Flowers are located close to the stem and can also gather in racemose inflorescences. There are highly decorative varieties of the Red Elegans Indian Sunset.
- Drymonia strigosa. This variety is the most attractive of the genus. The shoots of the plant are upright, and can be close to the meter in height. The leaf plates are large in size and have a dark emerald tint. When blooming, buds appear with a funnel-shaped corolla, as if made of wax. All decorativeness of this variety is based on sepals, which have a strong pointed at the tops. The length of the leaf plate can reach 20 cm. During flowering, buds appear with a funnel-shaped corolla, as if made of wax. They are somewhat reminiscent of "Chinese lanterns", since there are yellowish tints in the petals, and the color can change very beautifully from reddish to whitish. All decorativeness of this variety is based on sepals, which have a strong pointed at the tops and a delicate pinkish color scheme. This contrast is so unusual that the plant has become very popular lately. Even after the flowers fall, sepals adorn the bush for a long time. After the pollination has passed, the fruit-capsules of orange color ripen.
- Large-leaved drymonia (Drymonia macrophyulla). This variety got its name from the size of its leaf blades. The outlines of the leaf are lanceolate, the color is greenish or red-brown. Due to these dark tones, the emerging flowers look very impressive against their background. Most popular are those varietal varieties in which the color of the sepals is not green, traditional, but casts brown or red. This color combination and most of all looks decorative with the emerald sheen of foliage, and also harmonizes with the delicate, pastel tones of the petals of the buds. It is used for landscaping large rooms: living rooms or office rooms; it shows good growth under artificial lighting with fluorescent lamps.
