Adenium is thick( fat)
Adenium obesum
Homeland - Senegal, Sudan, Kenya.
One of the most interesting indoor plants in nature is a perennial shrub( 1-2 m in height), from the group of stem succulents. It can rightly be referred to as "bottle trees".It is also known under various names: "rose of the desert", "star of Sabinia", "impala rose".
Stem is thick, fleshy, branching, tips of cone-shaped shoots. In natural conditions of growth, a thick, horizontally twisted root protrudes above the surface of the soil. The lignification is noticeable in the region of the root neck. In the upper part of the greenish-brown stem there are rosettes of short-petioled or almost sessile, ovoid-wedge, lanceolate or almost linear, leathery glossy or pubescent leaves 5-10 cm long and 2-3 cm wide.
Color varies from bright green to dull green.
Flowers large tubular with a five-lobed bend of pink-red color. In the buds, the corolla's share is tightly twisted. Blooms from spring to autumn.
This view is one of the most popular. Some varieties are known:
• Asha - petals purple with red, border, wavy;
• Calypso - petals are wide-oval, apex blunted, bright purple;
• Candy Stripe - flowers of salmon-red, yawn, reverse side of petals and longitudinal strip on them - bright red;
• Grumbley White - pale pink petals are shaded with a white border and the same color with a longitudinal strip.
Less known Adenium boemianum, featuring lilac-pink or bluish-white with a purple pharynx and a corolla tube flowers.
Courtship. Adenium is a light-loving plant that requires a sunny location both in summer and in winter. The most suitable for him are the southern windows.
The temperature in summer is 25-27 ° C, as the temperature is lowered, the leaves may become darker and the flowering may be delayed as the temperature rises. Watering even in the summer is very moderate, the substrate between watering should dry up, otherwise the leaves lose their elasticity, the stems wrinkle and darken.
In the substrate for adenium, a rather large proportion of sand, expanded clay, brick crumbs. Of the common substrates, the land mixture "Cactus" will suit it. Feed it once every two weeks with a dilute( 1-2%) solution of mineral fertilizers, in wet years - once a month. For the summer, you can put the adenium on a balcony or take it out into the garden.
Adenium has a period of rest. The signal to his offensive is yellowing and falling leaves. At the same time, the duration of this period depends on the growing conditions. If the plant is in a warm place in winter and the substrate is kept moist, it can discard the leaves, but the rest period will take several weeks in late spring or early summer. With a dry and cold content( temperature 12-15 ° C) in the autumn-winter period, rest can last up to several months.
It is necessary to transplant adenium once a year in a wide and spacious dish. When you leave the state of rest, you are especially careful about watering and start it with very small doses.
The main pests are mealy moth and spider mite.
Propagate the adenia vegetatively( by cuttings, grafting, air layers) and seeds. Reproduction by apical cuttings( length 10-15 cm) is carried out in the spring or summer, but one should remember the difficulties: the cuttings are easily decayed, they should be rooted in perlite, ground claydite, a mixture of sand and charcoal, pre-dried. Rooting temperature 25-30 ° C, bright illumination. It is also important that the specimens grown from the cuttings do not thicken the stem, as a result of which they lose their original appearance. Air layers are better formed in adenomas late in spring or early summer, after the onset of active growth. On a shoot with a thickness of at least 2 cm with a sharp knife, a circular shallow incision is made, which is wrapped with peat and fixed with polyethylene film on top.
The best way to graft adenium is to oleander. This is how the first plants that entered the orange-room culture were obtained. Such specimens are more hardy and better bloom. On the prieva and rootstocks make oblique incisions, combine them and fix with an elastic band or a special spray for grafting. The temperature is maintained at 30-35 ° C, provides intensive lighting and high humidity.
Freshly harvested seeds are sown immediately after harvesting. Preliminarily they are aged 3-6 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate( potassium permanganate) or baseazol. Sowing is carried out on the surface of the substrate. At a temperature of 30-35 ° C shoots appear in a week.