Hirita

 

Gesnerium family. Homeland - mainly Sri Lanka, India, the Himalayas, are occasionally found on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Borneo. There are about 150 species in nature, these are perennial and annual herbs, perennial stemless rosettes, or miniature herbs with only one or two leaves.

Many species are grown as houseplants, as ornamental deciduous and ornamental flowering plants, and have appeared on the flower market more recently.

  • Hirita Chinese Chirita sinensis - originally from China, belongs to the Gibbosacuses. Herbaceous plant, about 15 cm high, forming a dense rosette of leaves. The leaves are oval, pointed at the end, up to 10 cm long, on short petioles, bright green with a silver pattern, covered with light hairs, serrated along the edge. The flowers are purple, about 4 cm in diameter. This species of hirite is grown on substrates for senpoli, grows on neutral or slightly calcareous soils.
хирита
  • Hirita lavender Chirita lavandulacea - native to the Malay archipelago, belongs to microchirites. Annual herbaceous plant. up to 40-50 cm high, with an erect pubescent stem. Leaves are elliptical in shape, oppositely located, dense, light green with pronounced venation. The basal leaves are noticeably larger. Flowers with a diameter of 2-3 cm, the five-petal tube is violet-blue (lavender). The fruit is a box about 5 cm long. After flowering and obtaining seeds, the plant usually dies, so it reproduces with seeds.
  • Hirita Tamiana Chirita tamiana - originally from northern Vietnam, belongs to the Gibbosacuses. Miniature rosettes resembling senpoli. The leaves are rounded or obovate, pointed at the end, dense, fleshy, strongly pubescent. Peduncles up to 20 cm tall, rise above the rosette, carry about 7 flowers. The corolla of the flower is bell-shaped, white, with lilac spots in the throat. It does not have a pronounced period of rest, the plant is thermophilic, but does not like hot dry periods in summer. Under favorable conditions (uniform temperature and lighting), it blooms for a long time.

Hirita - Care and Cultivation

Temperature: moderate, cool in winter, with a reduction in watering, from 15 to 18 ° C. Although many species winter in nature and at lower temperatures from 0 to 5 ° C, with room content there is no need for such wintering for chirite.

Lighting: bright diffused light, as for senpoles. We need shade from the sun's rays in the spring-summer period. In autumn and winter, additional light may be needed. Hirites will grow well on the northeastern or northwestern windowsills. It is too light and hot on the east or west, you need to hang a light tulle mesh on the glass. The southern and northern windows are not suitable (on the northern one it is possible with additional light).

Watering: moderate in summer, the soil should have time to dry well. Hirites are easier to tolerate overdrying than waterlogging. In winter, depending on the temperature, they water a little, slightly wetting the ground. Dangerous is not just excessive moisture, but cold damp earth.

Top dressing: from April to September with complex mineral fertilizer for senpoli. Plants are sensitive to excessive fertilizer doses. Hirites transplanted into fresh soil are not fed for two months.

Humidity: Hirites like relatively moist air, optimally around 50%. They do not require spraying, but suffer from dryness in winter near central heating batteries, and on hot days in summer. Moisten the air around the plants by placing the pot on a tray with wet peat or moss.

Transplant: As needed in spring. It is advisable to know which subgenus a particular species of chirite belongs to, for example, many species of chirite of the subgenus gibbosacus grow on rocky slopes and rocks, often on limestones . But, in general, you can use soil for violets, or make a mixture yourself 1 part of the turf land, 1 part of the leaf (or peat) and 1 part of the coarse river sand. The hirith pot also depends on the species, but hirites do not like too much capacity. Start with a small pot and transfer to a larger one as you grow. The pots should not be too deep, but rather wide. All hirites are planted in well-drained soil.

Reproduction of Hirita

Hirites are propagated by seeds, leaf cuttings, leaf parts and stepsons, as well as senpoli. Cuttings are put to rooting in water or vermiculite in a room greenhouse.

Seeds propagate mainly annual hirites. Seeds are sown in March, in wide plates, in a mixture of peat and sand. Seeds are not buried in the ground, moistened from a spray bottle, and covered with glass (or film). The optimal temperature for seed germination is 24-26 ° C, for this you can put a plate on the battery (on a folded towel). Seedlings should appear in 2 weeks. During this time, the glass must be slightly opened for ventilation. For young seedlings, the main threat is waterlogging, therefore, with the appearance of seedlings, the glass or film is removed, watering is carried out from a syringe. Grown hirites are transplanted into small pots using a spoon, trying not to damage the roots and leaves.

   

By the way

According to John Boggan (a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington)), the genus Chirita currently consists of three groups : Chirita, Microchirita and Gibbosaccus, which differ significantly from each other.

Hirita subgenus Chirita includes about 45 species, and has a wide geographical range, but is represented by the smallest number of species in culture.

These tend to be perennial grasses that have a stem or undersized shrubs (Chirita moonii, Chirita walkerae, and Chirita zeylanica - homeland of Sri Lanka), but some are miniature grasses (Chirita hookeri - homeland of Himalaya) with one or two leaves, annual grasses (Chirita pumila is the birthplace of Inlius, and Chirita anachoreta is from Southeast Asia)

The difference between most species is that their sepals form a fused tube to a greater or lesser extent. The flowers are often large and showy.

Microchirita subgenus Microchirita - has about 20 species, annual stem, less often perennial grasses. The difference between most species is that flowers appear from a leaf stalk.

Some species are characterized by the appearance of a flower from the cotyledons of the seedling, even before the formation of the first leaves. Most of these species are common in Thailand and Vietnam. As cultivated plants, Chirita caliginosa, Chirita elphinstonia, Chirita hamosa, Chirita involucrata, Chirita lavandulacea, Chirita micromusa and Chirita sericea are grown.

The Gibbosaccus subgenus Gibbosaccus contains about 90 species distributed in China and Vietnam. Most species have stemless sockets, like senpoli.

The most common species of "Chirita sinensis" is that plants have large deciduous bracts that surround the developing bud. The leaves are oblong, elongated towards the end, with a serrated edge.

There are a lot of deciduous forms, including variegated (some species have stripes, others large silver spots, and others silver-marble mesh).

Hirites, like most other Gesneria, are very variable, which allows you to get many new varieties that differ in the variety of not only flowers, but also leaves.

Growing problems

Problems arising from the cultivation of hirite, like most gesnerium, are usually associated with waterlogging of the soil, they need to be watered only when you make sure that the ground in the pot is dry.

You do not need to take the other extreme, and too dry hirites if the plants lack moisture, stop growing and do not form flowers.

Hirites can be affected by ticks (cyclamen and flat trees) and thrips, signs of pests are deformed (wrinkled, mutilated) leaves, especially young ones, sometimes point punctures or strokes on the leaves are visible.