Mesembrianthemum

 

Aisoonic family. Homeland South Africa, Mediterranean, South Australia, Canary Islands. About 50 species of herbaceous plants or small shrubs are common in nature.

МезембриантемумМезембриантемум

Mesembryanthemum crystal (Crystal grass or ice grass) Mesembryanthemum crystallinum - Bushy annual plant about 15 cm tall. The lower leaves are opposite, then next. The leaves are fleshy, pale green, oval in shape, with a wavy margin. The stems and leaves are covered with glandular hairs - papillae that look like crystal droplets. The flowers are bisexual, collected in racemose inflorescences, whitish, pink or red. It blooms all summer until mid-autumn. The flowers open in the morning and close at night, pollinated by insects. The fruit is a box.

Mesembryanthemum saber-shaped Mesembryanthemum acinaciforme - native to South Africa, grows wild in Mediterranean countries. It has the name "Hottentot ficus," a bushy plant with creeping shoots and ascending sickle-shaped leaves, flowers 8-10 cm in diameter are gently purple in color, blooms in May-July in open sunny areas.

Мезембриантемум

Mesembriantemum - care and cultivation

In nature, Mesembriantemum grows on well-drained sandy soils, in sand dunes, as well as on light loam, but does not tolerate soils rich in humus. In some southern states, Mesembrianthemum grows as a weed, forming broad curtains.

Temperature: preferably moderate, up to 28 ° C, at a higher temperature the lower parts of the stems begin to expose. In winter, the rest period at a temperature of 10-12 ° C, at least + 8 ° C, in dry soil.

Lighting: Succulent requires full sunlight throughout the year, houses are south-facing windows.

Watering: Moderate during the growing season, rare during periods of cooling. In caring for aizonovye, the main thing is not to pour, in raw soil, which dries for a very long time, the roots easily rot.

Fertilizer: May to August every two weeks with cactus fertilizer. Does not tolerate excess fertilizers, especially organic matter.

Air humidity: These succulents tolerate dry air well, but in summer on particularly hot days it is possible to spray air around plants from a very fine sprayer.

Transplant: It is advisable to plant several plants together in wide and shallow pots. Soil from slightly acidic to neutral reaction must meet one requirement: quickly absorb water and dry out quickly. Ready-made store soil can be used for cacti and succulents.

Reproduction: Seeds sown at the very beginning of spring and cuttings. Seeds are sown in wide plates, in a mixture of 2/3 sand and 1/3 peat soil, germinated at a temperature of about 15-20 ° C. Seedlings appear in 2-3 weeks.

   

By the way

Cut the mesembriantemum into cuttings in the fall. Cuttings are cut about 10 cm long, necessarily not lignified. Cut is performed directly under the unit. Then the cuttings are slightly dried and planted in small pots with calcined sand.

The cuttings are not watered for the first week, later they are watered very limited .

Cuttings should overwinter in cool conditions, while it is important that there is enough moisture to form roots, but in no case creating dampness in the pot. The substrate should be slightly moist. Contain cuttings in sunny places.

In spring, rooted cuttings can be planted in suitable containers in a purchased soil mixture for succulent plants. You can make up the soil mixture yourself.

To do this, you need 1 part of the sheet earth, 2 part of the river sand, 1 part of the clay, 1 part of the peat and 1 part of the brick crumb. Tanks for planting should be wide and not deep with a high drainage layer .

By the way

Mesembriantemum crystal, like some other aisoones, has edible leaves and seeds. Indigenous people in Africa eat them. Also, crushed leaves are used instead of soap.

If you have wide enough window sills, then you can plant the mesembriantemum in a low and wide box, and grow as a ground cover - in its natural habitat it forms a dense ground cover, growing up to 1 m wide.

This cultivation has one small secret - under the bottom of the pot from the edge farthest from the glass, you need to put a 5-7 cm high bar, then the container or box with succulents will be tilted towards the window and the plants will be illuminated more evenly.