General characteristics of oxalis, recommendations for the cultivation of oxalis, rules for reproduction and control of pests and diseases, facts to note, types. Oxalis (Oxalis) can be both an annual and a perennial plant with a herbaceous form of growth. Occasionally it looks like a half-shrub. All these representatives of the flora are part of the Oxalidaceae family. They like to settle on soils with sufficient, but not excessive moisture content. Kislitsy are true "forest dwellers" that often grow in spruce forests and can withstand illumination of 1/2000 of the full level of sunlight. In the conditions of its natural habitat, oxalis can be found on the lands of South Africa, and he also did not ignore the territory of Central and South America, and even in some European countries oxalis is not uncommon. For example, in Ireland, she is a national symbol and he is considered the plant of St. Patrick, and this saint is very revered in the country.
Oxalis has its name because of the Latin word "oxys", translated as "sour", since the leaf plates have a sour taste. Today, there are up to 800 varieties of oxalis. To cultivate this representative of the flora as a culture began in the 17th century and not only in the open field, but also indoors. In the Slavic countries, oxalis is called "hare cabbage", but in Europe you can hear the name - "clover of happiness".
In all oxalis, the rhizome is creeping, but sometimes pineal. The leaves have petioles and are arranged in the next order, their shape is trifoliate or palmate with a limb at the top. The leaf lobes are located cinquely, but occasionally they can also grow pinnately. It is curious that the time of day affects the leaf plates - there is noctinasty (the leaves fold and fall with the onset of dusk), as well as if they are physically affected or streams of bright light are directed at them. The color of oxalis leaves can vary depending on the variety, they acquire a greenish, burgundy and even purple color scheme.
In the process of flowering, the correct flowers are formed, with five petals and the same type of structure. The color of the petals in the buds is whitish, pinkish or yellow. The bud contains up to 10 stamens. Ovary with five cavities. Interestingly, the sorrel can have three types of flowers (trimorphic). The columns have different lengths - heterostyly: 1 - above the stamens, 2 - medium (in length between short and long stamens), 3 - shorter than the stamens. A variety of common sour cherry also has the ability to self-pollinate, which is provided by cleistogamic flowers that form next to ordinary flowers. Flowers in bad weather can close, it also happens with the onset of night.
After pollination of the flowers, fruits ripen, which have the shape of a capsule, the valves of which open when ripe. Each nest contains several seeds. They are covered with a fleshy layer, which then bursts and rebounds elasticly, helping the seeds to free themselves and fly away from the mother plant. The plant is distinguished by unpretentious care and at the same time high decorativeness, for which flower growers fell in love.
Growing sour cherry, home care
- Lighting. The plant feels great in bright, but devoid of direct sunlight. The east or west location of the windows will do. In winter, the sorrel will have to be illuminated to maintain the same level of light.
- Content temperature when cultivating oxalis, it should be in the room in the spring-summer months in the range of 20-25 degrees. With the arrival of autumn, the heat gradually begins to decrease to 5-15 degrees, but it all depends on the type of acid.
- Watering. With the onset of the activation of growth, the clover of happiness should be watered abundantly as soon as the topsoil dries out. From autumn, moisture should be appropriate for the variety (be moderate or strongly reduced). The water is used soft with room heat indicators.
- Air humidity when growing oxalis should be high in the spring and summer. Regular spraying with warm soft water will be required. In winter, spraying is not carried out.
- Fertilizers they are applied for acid plant from April until the end of summer, complex mineral dressings are used for indoor plants. Regularity - every 2-3 weeks.
- Transplant held annually with the arrival of spring. A good drainage layer is laid on the bottom of the pot. The soil is suitable for decorative deciduous plants.
You can make up a soil mixture yourself by combining the following components:
- sod soil, leafy, humus and peat soil, coarse-grain sand (in a ratio of 1: 1: 1: 2: 1);
- leafy and soddy soil, peat and river sand (in a ratio of 2: 2: 1: 1).
Steps in breeding oxalis
To get a new sour plant, you can sow seeds, propagate with nodules or cuttings.
Seed material is sown in the spring in a fertile substrate. During the first year, oxalis only forms leaf rosettes and underground shoots, and already in the second life period, the formation of clumps will begin, since new rosettes of leaves will begin to grow from the leaf sinuses located in the aboveground shoots.
With the arrival of February-March, the nodules of Depei's sour cherry can be planted in a prepared substrate. It is composed of sod and leafy soil, river sand (in a ratio of 2: 1: 1). 6-10 nodules are planted in one container and kept at a heat level of 5-10 degrees until the crustal processes are formed. From the beginning of April, the temperature can be gradually increased. Then such nodules are planted in open ground or in pots at any time of the spring-autumn period.
The tubers of the Depei variety are recommended to be planted in the middle or at the end of October days, and then leafy sour trees will be obtained by the New Year holidays. In this case, pots are taken with a diameter of 7 cm, the soil should consist of compost, leafy soil and river sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. Just like other varieties of oxalis, such plants must be kept at a temperature of 5-10 degrees, and when they germinate, the location changes to a warmer one.
Sourwood cuttings can be rooted at a heat rate of 25 degrees, while the twigs are planted in moistened sand. Rooting takes place after 18–20 days. Then they are transplanted into pots filled with an equal amount of sod, leafy and humus soil with sand. It is necessary to shade from the direct rays of the luminary.
It is required to remember that species that do not lose their aboveground part for the winter months should be grown indoors, with heat indicators in the range of 16-18 degrees and watering is carried out very moderately, only 2-3 days after the substrate dries out on top, the amount not much water is also used. Those plants, in which everything dies off above the soil surface in winter, go into dormancy (in October or December, depending on the variety) and water them very rarely, since only tubers remain in the soil. Such kislitsy are stored in a cool, well-lit place at a temperature of about 12-14 degrees. In this case, the soil should be moderately moist, but it should not be allowed to dry. As soon as the first shoots appear, oxalis is transferred to warmer conditions and watering is resumed. In this case, flowers can be expected after 30-40 days.
Pests and diseases of acid
If the substrate is in regular waterlogging, then root rot and even leaves may begin, oxalis is affected by gray rot or fusarium. An urgent transplant will be required with the removal of all affected parts and treatment with fungicidal preparations. Take a new substrate and pot and thoroughly disinfect it before planting.
If midday streams of ultraviolet radiation fall on the leaves, this will lead to burns in the form of whitish spots on parts of the plant.
Spider mites, scale insects, mealybugs, aphids or whiteflies can annoy the sour. If pests or products of their vital activity (cobwebs or honeydew) are found, it is necessary to urgently spray the bush with insecticides, with re-treatment after 5-7 days.
Curious data about acid
It is interesting that people have known about the properties of acid for a long time, so Bernardino de Sahagun in his work "General History of Spanish Affairs", published in 1547-1577, mentioned that the Aztecs actively used oxalis, namely Oxalis hernandezii. It said that the plant is used both raw and boiled. It promoted increased appetite and metabolism, also has antihelminthic, hemostatic and urinary and choleretic properties, helps to heal wounds. Oxygen helps to eliminate heartburn and vomiting, can quickly normalize the acidity of gastric juice, and also reduce blood pressure. It was used as an antidote for poisoning with mercury or arsenic, oxalis also helped with scurvy.
In folk medicine, there are many recipes for the preparation of decoctions and tinctures of acid, which are used for diseases of the kidneys and liver, and these remedies can also help with problems with the gall and bladder, with gastritis or diathesis and cardiovascular diseases. Rinse the mouth with broths for stomatitis or putrefactive processes. Fresh juice from leaf plates was recommended by traditional healers for fever and atherosclerosis, stomach cancer and heart neurosis. Fresh leaves can be applied to purulent wounds, ulcers and boils on the skin.
The sour taste of the foliage is provided by potassium oxalate. Often, root shoots of oxalis tuberosa and oxalis carmosa, which have a pineal shape, are used for food. Because of the rhizomes, these varieties are bred in Chile and there they bear the name - oka. The acid present in the roots becomes sugar at the end of their development.
On the coat of arms of Ireland there is a leaf of oxalis, which is the national symbol of this state.
Types of acid
Common oxalis (Oxalis acetosella) is a small plant growing on the lands of Europe almost everywhere, preferring to settle in coniferous and mixed forests, but occasionally it can be found in deciduous ones. It is this variety that bears the name "hare cabbage" or sour cabbage, in Germany it is called sour clover, since the leaf blade resembles a clover leaf.
It is a perennial plant that reaches 5–10 cm in height, has short shoots with a thin rhizome located under the soil surface and takes on creeping forms. The rhizome is covered with fleshy leaves with a reddish tinge in the form of scales. The leaf plates are trifoliate, with petioles reaching up to 10 cm in length. The petioles are thin at the base, segmented. The leaf lobes acquire obverse heart-shaped outlines, their sizes vary within 2.5 cm with a width of up to 3 cm. They are covered with sparse, strongly pressed hairs.
The outlines of the flowers are correct, they grow singly, crowning with elongated peduncles (7-10 cm), which originate in the leaf axils. There are also small bracts, which are located just above the middle of the flowering stem. The length of the calyx is 4–4, 5 cm, it is almost 3 times as long as the corolla, consists of 5 sepals, which adorn the cilia along the edge, and their top is shaded with purple tint. The corolla is five-petal, the color of the petals is white with pinkish or purple venation. There is often a spot of yellow tint at the base. The length of the corolla is 1.5 cm, the width is up to 0.7 cm, the marigolds in it are straight, the plates take obovate forms. Occasionally, the color of the petals may be light purple or pinkish purple. There are 10 stamens in the flower, those that are twice as long as the outer ones inside. Ovary superior with ovoid outlines. There are 5 columns, the stigmas have a capitate shape. The fruit is a light brown box, which does not exceed 1 cm in length and up to 0.5 cm in width. The flowering process occurs in May-June.
Ferruginous oxalis (Oxalis adenophylla) is the most common species among garden oxalis. In height, it can grow up to 8 cm, while forming bushes of compact outlines, reaching 15 cm in diameter. The color of the leaves is grayish-green, pinnate, consist of multiple leaflets (up to 9-22 units) with oval outlines. The flowering process takes place in June-July. The petals of flowers are cast in a silvery tint, on the surface there are streaks and spots of a pinkish tone. The size of the flowers is large. This variety is winter hardy. There is a subspecies - Var. Minima, which has smaller leaves.
Carob oxalis (Oxalis corniculata) is a weed variety that most often tries to grow uncontrollably in gardens. The leaf plates have a beautiful cherry-brown tone and the flowers are yellow. Since it has multiple shoots growing above the ground, it is able to litter not only flower beds, but also beds.
Oxalis deppei is also found under the synonym - Oxalis Tetraphylla. The native area of distribution falls on the territory of Mexico. It is known for the fact that its leaf plates consist of 4 simple leaf lobes. Their entire surface is covered with a reddish-brown spot, due to which this type of stasis is recognizable. It is this variety (believed to be) that brings happiness. Such formation of foliage is a regularity in her, while in other species it is an accidental anomaly.
Plant height reaches 25–35 cm, leaves of graceful shape are equal to 3–4 cm long. The tops are notched. Their color is green, there is a purple-red pattern on the surface. The petals of the flowers are cast in a crimson-red color scheme, from which inflorescences are collected in the form of umbrellas, with a length of up to 2 cm. Under the ground, the plant has tubers that are suitable for food.
Oxalis ortgiesii. The stems of this small herbaceous plant are pubescent. Their tops are usually crowned with leaves. The outlines of the leaf plates are trifoliate, each of the leaf lobes reaches 7 cm in length. Their shape is obverse-heart-shaped, there is a deep notch at the apex, the color of the leaves is reddish-brown, they are also pubescent. The diameter of the flowers is measured 1, 5 cm, of which the umbrella-shaped inflorescence is collected, in which there are 5-10 buds. The color of the petals of the flowers is yellow. This variety is the most popular in indoor floriculture.
Nine-leaved oxalis (Oxalis enneaphylla) has a long life cycle and small sizes, which are measured in height 5–10 cm. Curtains can form with a diameter of about 15 cm. Leaves with long petioles originate from a tuberous shoot. The leaf blade is divided into 9–20 leaflet-lobes with elongated outlines. The color of the foliage is silvery-grayish-green. In May-June, flowers with whitish or pinkish petals open.
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