Pedilanthus

Euphorbia family. The homeland of pedilanthus is the tropical and subtropical regions of North America, Central America, the Amazon basin, and the Caribbean, naturalized in the tropics around the world. Previously, all pedilanthus in Latin were called Pedilanthus and were separated into a separate genus of the euphorbiaceae family, but not so long ago this genus was included in the genus Euphorbia and each of the species received a new name. The most popular species that has become widespread is Euphorbia titimaloid, although it is more common to call it Pedilanthus titimaloid.

• Pedilanthus titimaloid or Euphorbia titimaloid Euphorbia tithymaloides formerly Pedilanthus tithymaloides is a shrub, on average 1.5-2 m tall, there is little branching. Leaves are brushless (sessile) on thick (with a pencil) stems are arranged in turn, at each place where the leaf is attached, the stem tilts in the opposite direction and looks zigzag. Leaves from 3.5 to 7.5 cm long, glabrous, dense, whole with a wavy edge, oblong, pointed at the end. The tops of the shoots are crowned with complex umbrella inflorescences. The flowers have bright red bracts, irregularly pointed at the end, they are believed to be similar to pointed shoes, but rather to the beaks of tropical birds. The flowers themselves are very small - up to 1.3 mm in length, tubular, almost invisible in bracts. Pedicels of male flowers are covered with hairs, female - bare. In the original species of pedilanthus titimaloid, the leaves are light green. There are several subspecies - they differ in the shape and size of the leaves, for example, there are varieties with reddish or pink speckling on the leaves, with cream edging of the leaves. Milky juice from all parts of the plant is poisonous, causes irritation of the mucous membranes, sometimes contact dermatitis.

Pedilanthus came to Europe in the 17th century, was grown as a garden plant, as a hedge, gradually became an indispensable plant for greening city streets. He distinguished himself by his extraordinary resistance to environmental pollution (toxicity of soils saturated with heavy metals), city landscaping services planted it along roads and around the perimeter of city landfills. Pedilanthus grows quickly, but this is its disadvantage - at home it must be resumed every 3-5 years, cutting, rooting, and again planting several pieces in a pot.

Other types of Milkweed

Care for pedilanthus

Pedilanthus has several cycles of development, inhibits growth in extreme heat in summer and with a natural cooling in autumn. Care is generally uncomplicated, apart from the usual watering, annual transplantation, periodic cutting of stems is required, although pedilanthus is reluctant to branch.

Temperature

Pedilanthus grows in summer at a normal temperature of 22-25 ° C, tolerates the heat, but if you are late with watering, it quickly loses the lower leaves. From the end of October to February, with a decrease in illumination, coolness is necessary - the optimal temperature for wintering is about 12-14 ° С, on an insulated or glazed balcony you can keep it practically without watering, until the temperature drops below + 5 ° С.

Lighting

Like all euphorbia pedilanthus loves a lot of sunlight, but after a dark winter, the spring sun must be accustomed gradually, creating a slight shading in the midday hours for 1-2 weeks in late February-March. Pedilanthus is suitable for windows of southern orientation, grows well in the southeast, worse in the southwest and sunny west - the leaves burn out somewhat when it is sunny and hot for many days. The northern side is dark, plants are poorly developed, grow slowly .

At home, sooner or later the question arises of where to put the pot - it ceases to fit on the windowsill. You can put in the room on a table or bedside table next to the window, as close to the light as possible. Pay attention - with proper lighting, the leaves sit tightly on the petioles, the distance between them is about 2-4 cm, if there is little light, the shoots are pulled out (although the variegation is practically not lost) and the distance between neighboring leaves reaches 5-7 cm. You can often see how the shoots lean towards the window. In this case, you need to rearrange the pot on a sunnier windowsill or organize lighting with phyto-lamps.

Watering

Moderate in warm time, the soil should have time to dry well for the next watering - touch with your hand when the soil from above is dry in the upper 3-5 cm, wait another two days before watering. If the weather is hot, then water the next day. In winter, with a decrease in temperature (or at the end of summer with a cold snap), watering is very rare, the soil should be completely dry for the next watering for several days. Pedilanthus is easier to tolerate overdrying than overflow, and it is important to select good porosity soil.

Fertilizing

During the growth period, feed pedilatnus with a complex fertilizer containing a wide range of trace elements - the need for elements such as boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc is especially high. At the beginning of the growing season, especially if it is planned to rearrange the pedilanthus on the balcony or on the street, you can carry out an out-of-root spraying with boric acid: 0.1 g of boric acid per 1 liter of water.

Air humidity

Pedilanthus is resistant to dry air, does not need spraying, but you can wear it in the shower once a week in a particularly hot time, wash off the dust. Watering and spraying with hot water (55 ° C) in the warm season stimulates growth well, but then you need to dry the soil well.

Flight connections

Transplantation should be carried out annually to get rid of the compacted salted soil. Making the right ground is a very important technique for caring for home pedilanthus. Do not forget that it is a succulent, and grows in nature on highly graded (porous) soils. Approximate soil composition: 1 part of garden (greenhouse, turf) land, 1 part of leaf land, 2 part of small gravel (marble chips, pebbles) with particle size from 3 to 5 mm, you can add a couple of spoons of brick chips and several pieces of charcoal. Brick crumbs can be replaced with vermiculite. Good soil structure, when after watering it instantly passes water, wetting evenly, and quickly dries out. Do not forget to make a good drainage from large expanded clay or pieces of foam at the bottom of the pot. Optimum soil acidity pH 6.1-6.5.

Reproduction

Pedilanthus is easily propagated by cuttings, and if light and warm, then at any time of the year. To begin with, the cut stalk (about 10-12 cm) must be dried in the air for 5-6 hours, and the sections on the mother plant should be sprinkled with crushed coal. Then put the cuttings to root in any suitable substrate: slightly wet sand or vermiculite. Although there is experience of rooting in water (also after preliminary drying). In water, rooting can take a little longer than in vermiculite, and the water must be changed every two days to fresh, boiled. Do not put rooted cuttings in a sunny place - only in diffused light (east side or shading from the south). To get a more spectacular plant, plant 4-5 cuttings in one pot.

Growing problems

Pedilanthus does not tolerate soil salinization if a salt deposit has formed on the soil surface (white or reddish crystals on lumps of earth), you need to remove the upper 3-4 cm of soil, replace it with fresh soil, check if you water it too often - salt effusion appears when the soil dries for a very long time; or the water in your area is too hard - go to watering with boiled water.

Pedilanthus has no special problems with pests and diseases. Very rarely, it attracts ticks or worms (including the shield). Stem rot and root rot cause only too much watering, especially during cold spells. Pedilanthus does not tolerate stagnation of water in the roots!

Stretching shoots from lack of light can be a problem - not fatal, but decorativeness is lost. You may be surprised, but in natural conditions, pedilanthus are very unpresentable - they willingly bloom, but the bushes burn out in the heat in the sun, the stems in the lower part are exposed. At home, bushes also look beautiful only at a young age, over time they grow. The heating season has a bad effect on the decorativeness of the bush, leaves fly around from the hot air of the batteries with a lack of light.

Pedilanthus - benefits and harms

Pedilanthus is grown by us as a beautiful ornamental plant, moreover, we can control the color of the leaves: if we provide the plant with daily temperature fluctuations of about 10 ° C (i.e. cooling at night), pink will appear in the color of the leaves. But the leaves will be poured pink or red only in a sunny place or bright light.

Pedilanthus is of aesthetic value, in regions with a warm climate (9-13 zones) it can perfectly fit into the decor of the garden in mixed curbs and rock gardens. At home, its benefits for air purification are undoubted - a fairly large sheet mass filters the air we breathe, reducing the concentration of toxic emissions (phenol group, etc.).

In folk medicine in many countries - in the homeland of pedilanthus, various parts of the plant were used to treat many ailments and ailments (asthma, laryngitis, treatment of calluses, otitis media, rheumatism, skin diseases and umbilical hernias). Although they have not been recognized as effective by official medicine, world medical science considers pedilanthus as a source of interesting anti-inflammatory drugs, or drugs of general antibacterial/antimicrobial action.

Milky milk juice contains not only healing, but also toxic substances, including carcinogens.

Pedilanthus stems, leaves, seeds and roots are all saturated with toxic milky juice, which can cause allergies on the skin when in contact with it, especially if there are wounds, scratches or other damage. Therefore, to avoid trouble when transplanting and trimming, wear gloves if necessary.

But pets smell in their gut that pedilanthus and any other milkweed is an inedible plant and almost never encroach on its leaves.