Description of carallum, recommendations for keeping and reproduction, possible difficulties in cultivating a "rotten flower", interesting facts, species. Caralluma is part of the Asclepiadaceae family, whose representatives mainly grow in East Asia, and are also found in Africa and America, where a tropical climate prevails, but some varieties grow in a temperate climatic zone. Almost a third of this vast family (almost 3400 species) are succulents (plants that accumulate moisture in stems or leaves in order to survive in arid climates or under adverse conditions). This genus includes up to 110 species specimens.
Carallum itself is most common in the African continent, especially where it rains less often. You can find this exotic representative of the flora on the Arabian Peninsula, on the lands of India and the island of Sri Lanka and Fuerteventura (it is located southeast of the Spanish territory).
People can often hear how caralluma is called a "rotten flower", as some species exude a rather smelly odor that attracts insects. The latter will contribute to the pollination of the flowers of this unusual sample of nature.
These plants are often low in height and many species with very small parameters (10-15 cm) prefer to grow in the shade of xerophytic shrubs (those that grow on very dry soils). Some larger varieties can thrive in open areas, exposing their flowers and shoots to direct sunlight, but the soil must be well-drained, they can settle among rocks or on sandy soil.
The stems of the “rotten flower” are succulent (the plant accumulates moisture in them), possessing 4–6 facets, can branch above the soil or under its surface, the leaves are so reduced (reduced) and it is believed that they do not exist. Large or small jagged edges can form along the edges of the edges. The color of the shoots is often greenish, grayish-greenish. The length of the stems can reach 20 cm in length with 2.5 cm in diameter. Basically, the stems of the karallum are lodging, but they can grow upright. If the plant is in the open sun, then its shoots reach up to a meter in length. If the heat rises, then the surface of the stems will begin to be decorated with a pattern of red or brown spots and stripes.
Flowers often originate at the base of the trunks. They can have bell-shaped, funnel-shaped or rounded outlines. The corolla consists of five petals, opening in diameter to 0, 6-7, 5 cm. The petals are very fleshy. A pair of round or goblet shape. Its color is varied: yellow brown or reddish, there is often a pattern of longitudinal stripes or mottling. The flowers also have an unpleasant odor. The flowers are arranged as singular, so inflorescences of 1-2 buds can be collected from them. Their location on the stem varies, the shape of the inflorescences is umbrella-shaped. Flowers can be pleasing to the eye for about 7 days. During this time, insects attracted by the smell will pollinate, transferring pollen from one flower to another.
When fruits ripen, horn-shaped formations appear. Usually a pair of horns appears, which reach 15 cm in length and they contain flat-shaped seeds.
Of all the abundance of the "rotten flower" in room culture, it is practically not grown, but in the conditions of greenhouses, you can find several specimens of this genus. The growth rate of the plant is low, but new young shoots appear throughout the entire life cycle.
Growing karallum indoors
- Lighting. For a plant, it is necessary to be under bright, but diffused lighting for at least 6 hours. It is better not to place Carallum next to glass, as it is fraught with burns.
- Temperature content in the summer should not go beyond 20-24 degrees, and in winter should not fall below 15. However, the plant can stay for a short time even with a thermometer of 5 units.
- Humidity does not play a role for the karalluma, and it will successfully transfer the dry air of the premises.
- Watering. It is necessary to moisten the soil when it dries out on top of the flowerpot. During spring and summer, watering is carried out once a month with 1-2 glasses of water, and with the arrival of autumn and winter, one should adhere to this regime: in December and January, the plant is practically not watered, and in November and February only once a month.
- Fertilizers for a "rotten flower" during vegetative activity, it is applied once a month. They use preparations for cacti, but the dosage is halved.
- Transfer and selection of soil. Change the pot and the soil in it for Carallum every 2 years. It is better to take ceramic or clay flowerpots so that the substrate in them dries out quickly. A transplant is also carried out when the root system of the plant has completely mastered the entire earthen lump, since the flowering is more active and abundant, with a constrained volume.
You can use ready-made soil mixtures for succulents by mixing a little sand there. Soil for karalluma is compiled independently based on:
- leaf and sod land, as well as peat soil and coarse sand, where all parts are taken equal;
- coarse-grained river sand or perlite, garden soil, humus (leafy earth), charcoal peat or inert flour (in a ratio of 3: 2: 2: 2: 1).
Rules for self-breeding karallum
Carallum can be propagated by sowing seeds or dividing an overgrown bush.
On the surface of the sand-peat mixture, poured into the container, seeds are scattered and on top they are lightly powdered with a substrate. Then the container is covered with a plastic bag and placed in a warm and bright (without direct sunlight) place. Regular ventilation and spraying of the substrate from a spray bottle is required. As soon as the first sprouts hatch, the shelter should be removed and, as the seedlings grow, they are transplanted in separate pots with a substrate suitable for further growth.
It is also possible to split an overgrown karallum bush. This operation is usually combined with the transplantation process. Then there is the possibility of separating shoots from the mother bush, which have their own root processes. And they are seated in separate small pots with prepared Carallum substrate for adults. There is also a grafting method. At the end of spring, you can cut stem cuttings and, after 24 hours of drying, plant them in moistened sand. Later, when the sand is completely dry, it is thoroughly moistened again. Once the young plants take root, they are transplanted to their permanent growth site.
Carallum pest and disease control methods
Caralluma is rarely affected by pests, but nevertheless there are troubles with attacks of a mealybug or scabbard, when lumpy cotton-like pellets of a whitish hue appear in the internodes and on the sides of the stems, or the shoots are covered with plaques of brown color, and then, if measures are not taken, a sticky sugary plaque. For cure, insecticidal preparations of a wide spectrum of action are used.
Another problem when growing a "rotten flower" is excessive watering under cool conditions, after which rot damage can begin. In this case, the stems acquire a brown color and become soft. In this case, you will have to re-root the healthy parts of the karallum. An overdose of nitrogen during feeding can have the same effect.
When a pot with a plant is placed in direct streams of sunlight, the stems easily fade, light shading is important.
Interesting facts about the Karallum
Recently, preparations with an exotic karallum extract have appeared on the market, which guarantee a dramatic weight loss. Of course, the question of taking capsules of this "miracle" remedy is taken independently. And although manufacturers call this representative of the flora "cactus", the "rotten flower" has nothing to do with this family. It should also be noted that all the magical properties of "fat burning and deprivation of appetite" are possessed only by the rising Carallum, or as it is also called Carallume Fimbriata. Curiously, this variety has not become widespread in culture at all. However, doctors strongly advise against chewing the stalks of the home plant karallum in order to lose weight.
Types of karalluma
- Caralluma acutangula may occur under the name Caralluma retrospiciens. It is a cactus-like specimen of flora, with succulent stems and good branching. In length and width, the outlines reach 75 cm. The segments have a light green color, changing to a whitish color. Their length reaches 15 cm. The segments have 4 ribs, their sides are strongly concave, the tops are pointed. On the ribs there are sharp, curved warts with a triangular shape. The number of leaves is small, they are greatly reduced and do not exceed 0.1 cm in length and width. The inflorescence has hemispherical outlines and more than 100 flowers are collected in it, These flower formations are very densely located, they have star-shaped petals, along the edge of which cilia grow, the shape of the petals is triangular, the color is dark purple.
- Caralluma acutiloba is a succulent plant, which reaches 15–20 cm in height. The stems have a section of 1.6 cm, they have 4 corners, along the ribs there are teeth with conical sharp outlines. The flowers are small, gather 1-2 per inflorescence. Their sepals are up to 3 cm long, bare. The corolla is cupped in shape, small in size, painted in a light greenish or greenish-yellow tone, decorated with dark purple-brown spots. The tops of the petals are very pointed.
- Caralluma adenesis is a succulent plant. Its stems are tall with flat ribs, including 4 units. Along the ridges, they have tubercles, the color is light green. Rudimentary leaflets are located on the ribs at a short distance from each other. Dense inflorescences with rounded shapes are collected from the flowers. The corolla of flowers is funnel-shaped, with dark brown triangular petals. The petals are spliced from the base to the center, and at the tops they are bent in the horizontal plane.
- Caralluma ascending (Caralluma adcendens) may also be called Caralluma dalzielii. The plant is cactus-like, with juicy stems reaching one meter in height. The number of stems is multiple, their surface is smooth, the color is light green, with 4 corners, there are ribs with coarse crenation or waviness. Multiple flowers are collected in umbellate inflorescences, which are placed on the tops of the stems. The color of the petals of flowers is dark purple, they have an unpleasant odor, they open up to 1 cm in diameter, with five triangular purple petals.
- White-chestnut Caralluma (Caralluma albocastanea) has a small size. Stems are fleshy green in color, occasionally they can acquire a reddish color or they can be covered with reddish-brown streaks. On the stems, the edges are weakly expressed with short straight-growing teeth. The flower has a corolla of a flat shape, the color of the petals on the outside is green, decorated with a red-brown variegated pattern. The inner shade of the petals is whitish, cream or yellow, their surface is wrinkled, it is covered with multiple spots from dark chestnut to red color. The hem is decorated with reddish hairs with clavate contours.
- Caralluma ango may occur under the name Caralluma decaisneana. Succulent plant with thin and highly branched shoots that have a curved shape. The color of the flowers is blackish-purple on the surface of the petals there are small whitish papillae.
- Caralluma apera is a succulent. The stems grow both straight and spread from the very base. Outlines strongly tetrahedral, color - light green. In single flowers, the legs reach 5 cm in length. Sepals reach 3, 7 cm in length, their shape is oval, with a pointed and bare surface. Corolla diameter no more than 4 cm, cupped or occasionally funnel-shaped. Its neck is painted in a purple-brown tone, and the length of the petals approaches 17.5 cm with a width of up to 11, 25 cm. At the neck, petals with a whitish or yellowish tint, but the ends are painted in a purple tint, and there is also a pattern of small lines and specks of a purple-brown tone, placed asymmetrically.
- Caralluma europaea can also be found under the name of European Stapelia (Stapelia europaea). Shoots of this variety are branched and often grow bifurcated, thick, reaching up to 1–1.5 cm in thickness. Their outlines are tetrahedral, if you make a cut, then their projection is almost square. They are painted in a grayish-green color and the surface is covered with a dirty red spot. The edges are obtuse, but they have short teeth, the leaf blades are strongly rudimentary, their shape is rounded and they have a weak concavity from above. The flowers are small, reaching 1, 3–1, 5 cm in diameter, of which the umbrella-shaped inflorescences are collected, in which there are 10–12 buds. The corolla is made up of five petals, which are deeply dissected and ovoid. Their color is yellowish-green, there is a brownish-red color at the ends, there is a transverse pattern of densely spaced stripes. The outgrowths in the corolla pharynx (corolla) have a brownish-black color, with yellow speckling. This element is slightly elevated and has a faint odor. The flowering process is almost year-round. It prefers to settle on limestone cliffs along the coastal lands of North Africa up to southern Spain, and can also be found on the island of Lampedusa.
- Caralluma nebrownii Berger also known as Caralluma brownie Dinter u. Berger. The native habitat is in the lands of South-West Africa. It is a low plant, the stem of which does not exceed 15–17 cm in height, with a width of up to 4 cm. Shoots have 4 edges, surfaces of which are sunken and mutually close, notched-jagged. Their color is green or grayish-green. Its surface is often covered with dirty red spots and teeth. The latter are spaced from each other with an interval of 2, 5–3 cm; at the apex there is a spine and two rows of located denticles. On a flowering stem, up to 15–20 buds usually bloom. The flat corolla in them is large, in diameter it can approach 9–10 cm. The petals in the corolla are ovoid, at the apex it changes to lanceolate. At the same time, the petals are thick, with a dark red-brown tint, they have purple cilia along the edge, and the flower has an unpleasant odor.
