The plant of the Stapelia belongs to the category of perennial succulents. In nature it grows in South-West Africa on the slopes of mountains, in places shaded by trees, near oases. The culture owes its name to the Dutch botanist and physician Johannes van Stapel.
Flower of the Stalapia - description
The plant has gained popularity due to its amazing beauty of huge flowers, because of their shape it is often called "sea" or "sheriff's star". Description of culture:
- Stapelia is a herbaceous home flower - a succulent (in the stems accumulates moisture) 10-60 cm high, with a large number of fleshy shoots, which are adorned with denticles on four sides. Germs are found in green, gray, brown, reddish color, there are no foliage on the bush.
- Corolla is rounded, has five triangular petals. Coloring is found variegated (on the straw background dark spots), bright purple, red-brown, multicolored with variations of the scorpions and stripes.
- Along with the attraction, the flowers have an unpleasant odor, which attracts flies for pollination.
When does the Stapel blossom?
The African saplings bloom in the middle of August, continuing until the end of October. The rosette lasts for several days, other flower buds immediately replace it. After the fruit is formed on the plant with numerous seeds, equipped with parachutes. In comfortable conditions of existence, the Stapelia can please bright stars at any time of the year. As in the wild, the plant needs a rest cycle. When the temperature is lowered and the irrigation is reduced, the rosettes "fall asleep". With increasing daylight, the plant reacts and starts to bloom.
Stapelia - Species
The plant nicely complements the design of the room, impressing with its elegance. Stapelia is like an ampel plant, its shoots bush from the root, attract cascading winding branches hanging from the pot and again rushing up. The main value of the plant is exotic buds. A large number of species are adapted to domestic conditions, often on the windowsills there are large-flowered, giant, hairy specimens with corollas from 5 to 35 cm in diameter, depending on the variety.
Stapelia mottled
A short succulent up to 10 cm high, with emerald, sometimes reddish stems with blunt faces in erect denticles. Flowers are located at the base from one to five pieces, corolla 5-8 cm in diameter, flat. Petals are ovate, triangular, bent and pointed. Outside they are smooth, inside wrinkled, yellow, covered with contrasting dark brown uneven spots or stripes. Stapelia variegated in care unpretentious, easily adapts to unfavorable conditions. Flowers blossom in the summer, exude an unpleasant smell.
Stapelia large-flowered
The plant is a large-flowered stapelia - a long succulent plant, grows green tetrahedral stems with rarely located hooked denticles. In the lower part of the shoot in summer a flower is formed with lanceolate curled petals resembling a starfish. They are burgundy or purple, covered with silvery villi. Corolla diameter 15-25 cm, flowering lasts up to 5 days, at this stage the plant smells of decaying meat.
Stapelia Grandiflora
Indoor plant stapelia Grandiflora and large-flowered - this is the same species. They attract attention with large huge five-petalled dark red flowers with noticeable light pubescence, located on small legs. The height of the shoots reaches 20-25 cm, the rosettes are wrapped up during the growth process and acquire the original star shape.
Stapelia Guernia
The perennial guernia has fleshy tetrahedral stems, bare with soft denticles. Its flowers are solid as wax, 2 cm in diameter, shaped like a bell, burgundy inside, whitish outside. The petals in guernia are more interconnected than in the other species, and are not so strongly revealed. Such a stapel at home is highly branching, well growing. Flowers velvety, guernia can please bright buds all year round. Unpleasant smell is audible if you approach the plant directly.
Stapelia Gigantea
The plant has long fleshy shoots up to 20 cm with deep grooves. At the stage of flowering, the Giant Stapelia forms 1-2 largest among the relatives of the flower, up to 35 cm in diameter. Volosisty (with white villi, having a red ebb) flat five-petalled flower is painted in a cream-yellow shade with thin transverse claret strokes. The edges of the petals are elongated and strongly narrowed, the tips can even twist in a spiral. The advantage of this kind is that it does not have a pronounced unpleasant odor.
Stapelia Variegata
The plant of the variegated stapel and the species of the Variegata are one and the same culture. They have bright green low stems without ribs, with hooked teeth. In section, shoots form an almost regular circle. Bright, mottled yellow flowers with brown spots are flattened corollas. In the center they have a convex ring, which is framed by triangular pointed petals. There are several varieties of variegate culture, distinguished by the color of widely spread stellate flowers with a roller in the middle.
Indoor flower of a stapelia - cultivation and care
Like most succulents, the stapel plant does not need much care, so it is suitable for inexperienced or busy florists. But there are some subtleties in caring for her, they depend on the time of the year. The main points in growing:
- Comfortable temperature range is + 20-27 ° С in summer and + 12-15 ° С in winter. Since the end of autumn, the plant needs a period of rest. He is recommended to lower the temperature of the content and reduce watering. A glazed balcony is a suitable place in the period of rest for the "starfish" from late November to early March. There, the plant with limited watering will rest well before the new season.
- For the southern slipway, good lighting is necessary with an abundance of direct sunlight, otherwise its stems become thinner. In the hottest days it is better to pritenit, so that shoots do not have burns. Often the question of why the stapel does not bloom, the answer lies in the lack of lighting or nutrients.
- "Starfish" itself tells the owner if there are too many sun rays to it - the tips of her shoots start blushing.
- With an uneven arrival of light, the plant develops unevenly - it unfolds shoots to the sun's rays. As a result, the bush becomes lush on one side and bared on the other. To prevent this, you need to turn the bowl systematically around its axis. But during flowering in order to avoid plant dropping of buds, it is better not to perform this procedure.
- Humidity of air is not important for the "starfish" accustomed to African conditions, it feels well in a dry atmosphere.
- The main pest that threatens the plant is mealy worm . He does not mind eating fleshy stems of succulent. The beetle must be washed off with water, the plant should be irrigated with an insecticide and placed in a cellophane bag for several days.
Planting of the Stapelia
The plant has an underdeveloped root system and needs a wide shallow pot. Capacity of a third should consist of drainage - expanded clay, pieces of plastic, foam. It is necessary to prevent waterlogging of the soil, which can lead to rotting of the trunk. The soil for the plant requires light, breathable and loose. Ground for planting can be prepared from two parts of turf ground and one - washed sand. It has good air and water permeability and neutral acidity.
For rooting is also suitable and a store mix for succulents, which add charcoal - it protects the soil from rot and pests. A young staple transplant is needed every year, it is carried out in the spring. Two- and three-year-old flowers are disturbing every few years. Longevity change the surface layer, remove the old shoots in the middle, since they will not bloom any more. After the transplant, the plant should not be watered for 7-10 days - it is better acclimatized. Succulent grows quickly, flowers appear on young shoots.
Stapelia - watering
When asked why the staples have become soft and wrinkled leaves-shoots, the answer may be an excess of moisture, which is why the roots are damaged by rot. The plant can not stand it - the stems turn pale, become lethargic and begin to disappear. From March to October, the Stapelia is watered moderately (approximately once every two weeks) - the land between the humidities should dry to the very bottom of the pot. At one time the plant is flooded abundantly, but stagnation of water should not arise, otherwise the roots of the "starfish" can disappear.
In autumn the plant has a rest period. Therefore, from October watering is reduced to once a month, December and January, the bush can not be moistened at all. At this time, we must make sure that the plant is not dry and that its column does not begin to wrinkle. Proper care during rest will guarantee the appearance of beautiful summer "stars". After the bud is formed on the culture, the owners of the succulent are interested in watering, the stapel during the flowering does not need special care - they moisten it as the soil dries up. Water for irrigation needs soft, it should not be cold.
Cactus Stapelia - top dressing
Mineral fertilizers have a good effect on the flower of the Stapelia, home care involves spring and autumn feeding - only during the period of plant activity. It is fed at this stage every two weeks by special mixtures for cacti or succulents in the recommended doses. Suitable mixtures are Agricola, Florovit, Pokon, Bona Forte. In winter, the plant is not fed. Stapelia reacts well to potash fertilizers, thanks to them it develops resistance to diseases.
Stapelia - reproduction
You can propagate a plant in three ways:
- Seeds. They appear in the fruit-pods on the "sea star" throughout the year. The seeds are collected, they are equipped with tufts of fluff, which need to be removed. Seeds stand half an hour in a solution of potassium permanganate, they are sown in a separate dish in a light soil, after 3-4 weeks they germinate. After picking the trunk, they are planted in 6 cm pots.
- Stapelia - rapid multiplication by cuttings. Germs cut off from old shoots. Before planting, they wither during the day, after they are planted in a substrate made up of coarse sand with the addition of a small amount of peat chips. Within 7-10 days at a temperature of + 20 ° C, roots appear on the cuttings. Strong seedlings are transplanted into 7 cm pots. The composition of the earth will be the same as for seed seedlings. Cuttings should be taken from that mother plant, which has already blossomed. The daughter bush then it is better to tie your own buds.
- By dividing the bush. During the transplant, the mother's bush can be divided into several plants, each of which is planted in a segregated container.
The composition of the earth is as follows: turf, leaf, sand (1: 2: 1), plus 1 part charcoal with lime (1: 8). The next year young shoots are transplanted into 7 cm pots. Grow "starfish" quickly. We must be prepared for the fact that a young plant may not look like a parent plant, because the Stapelia crosses well. In the first year of life, the earth's coma should not dry out. The plant starts from the seeds in the third or fourth year of life.