Houseplant with triangular leaves. What does an oxalis flower look like? The uniqueness of purple sorrel

Planting and caring for oxalis (in brief)

• Bloom: from late May or early June until winter.
• Lighting: bright diffused light.
• Temperature: during the growing season – 20-25 ˚C, during the dormant period – 12-18 ˚C.
• Watering: abundant in summer, moderate to scanty in autumn and winter.
• Humidity: common for residential premises, but in extreme heat it is advisable to spray the plant from time to time.
• Feeding: during the period active growth once every 2-3 weeks complex mineral fertilizers at half the dosage indicated in the instructions.
• Rest period: one to one and a half months after flowering.
• Transfer: young plants are replanted annually, adults - once every 2-3 years.
• Reproduction: daughter bulbs or nodules, less often – seeds.
• Pests: scale insects, aphids, spider mites.
• Diseases: gray rot, fusarium.
• Properties: A medicinal plant with a high content of vitamin C in its leaves.

Read more about growing sorrel below.

Oxalis flower - description

Oxalis are represented by many species, including annual, perennial, tuberous and bulbous plants. Oxalis leaves are palmate or trifoliate, petiolate, with a complex bend, folding in the evening and opening in the morning. Leaves also react to too bright light and mechanical irritation. The color of the leaves, depending on the type of sorrel, can be green, purple or burgundy. Oxalis flowers are medium-sized, regular; the color of the petals can be white, pink, lilac or yellow. The flowers, like the leaves of the plant, close at night or before bad weather. Oxalis seeds ripen in a shell that easily explodes when touched when the seeds are ripe. Oxalis at home is most often represented by two types - four-leaf sorrel and triangular sorrel. Indoor oxalis is a popular Christmas tree gift in Europe, since there is a sign that the plant brings happiness and prosperity to the house if it settles in it the day before the New Year.

Caring for oxalis at home

How to care for sorrel.

The indoor flower oxalis has the same requirements for growing conditions as its wild relative. She needs intense but diffused light with shading from the direct rays of the sun. Temperature in summer time homemade sorrel prefers temperatures within 20-25 ºC, which, however, is quite natural for this time of year. In winter, it is advisable to lower the temperature slightly - to 12-18 ºC, otherwise the plant will not bloom. Watering in the summer should be plentiful, but water should not stagnate in the roots. With the onset of autumn, watering is reduced, and in winter, moistening the soil in a pot with sorrel should be symbolic, so that the soil is barely moist. The houseplant oxalis does not need to spray the leaves, although if the house is too hot and stuffy, you can spray the plant boiled water. IN winter time Spraying sorrel is contraindicated.

Some species of wood sorrel rest in winter. The rest period lasts a month and a half. If you notice that the plant begins to lose leaves after flowering, reduce watering and move the flower to a cool place where it will rest. Sometimes the leaves from the sorrel tree do not fall, it simply stops growing, as if frozen - this is a sign that it is time to move it to " winter apartment"to restore strength. At this time, watering should be minimal. But as soon as you discover that the plant has begun to appear new shoots, transplant it into fresh substrate, return it to its usual place, and resume watering and fertilizing.

Oxalis fertilizer.

Caring for homemade sorrel requires timely feeding of the plant with complex mineral fertilizers. They are applied during the period of active growth and flowering every 2-3 weeks, and the concentration of the solution should be half that recommended by the manufacturer.

Oxalis transplantation.

Care room sorrel requires annual replanting of young plants; adult plants are replanted once every two to three years. If you don't know how to replant sorrel, start by choosing a pot. A pot for oxalis needs to be wide so that you can plant several tubers or bulbs in one container - this way you will get a luxurious flowering bush. A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the pot so that excess water does not stagnate in the roots of the plant. Any soil is suitable for wood sorrel - buy a universal soil in the store or make a soil mixture yourself from leaf, turf, peat soil and sand in equal parts. Please note that if the soil is too nutritious, the plant will have many leaves and few flowers. Planting oxalis in new pot carried out with great care, together with a lump of earth, if you have no intention of breeding it this time.

Pests and diseases of wood sorrel.

If you are too zealous with watering and did not bother to place a layer of drainage under the soil, the plant may be affected by gray rot or fusarium. Both diseases in the initial stage can be successfully treated with foundationazole.

House sorrel - reproduction

Growing sorrel from seeds.

IN natural conditions Oxalis reproduce by seeds. TO seed method Oxalis propagation at home is rarely used, since there are more reliable methods of propagation - vegetative. But if it is important for you to grow sorrel from seeds, then we wish you success and offer a list of conditions and measures for successful generative propagation of sorrel:

• – composition of the mixture for sowing: four parts each of leaf humus and peat and one part sand;
• – oxalis seeds early spring scattered over the surface of the soil without covering it, after sowing the container is covered with glass, since germination requires one hundred percent humidity;
• – for seed germination you also need diffused light, a temperature of 16-18 ºC and constantly moist soil – watering the crops is carried out from a spray bottle;
• – daily ventilation of crops is necessary.

If all these conditions are met, seedlings, depending on the freshness of the seeds, will appear a week to a month after sowing.

Vegetative methods of propagation of sorrel.

The easiest way to replant oxalis annually in spring is to separate the daughter bulbs or nodules that have formed around the taproot and plant several of them in one pot, sprinkle with a small amount of soil, placing the container in a cool, shaded place and occasionally moistening the soil. When shoots appear, the pot is moved closer to the light, and in a month and a half the young plant will turn into a lush flowering bush.

After a period of rest, as soon as the first one appears new leaf, the tuber is removed from the ground, cleaned of soil, washed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, cut into pieces, and the sections are treated with crushed charcoal and plant the divisions in separate pots. Pots with planted parts of the tuber are placed under diffused light, watered after drying earthen coma and feed twice a month, starting from the second week after planting.

Properties of sorrel

For a long time, oxalis was considered medicinal plant. The above-ground part of the plant was used to treat scurvy, to treat ulcers and wounds, as an antidote for arsenic or mercury poisoning. Traditional medicine has successfully used the anthelmintic, choleretic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic and wound-healing properties of the plant.

Due to the high content of vitamin C in the leaves of sorrel, its use helped cope with colds and strengthened the immune system. Oxalis is also in demand in cooking: tasty and healthy tea, added to cabbage soup, green borscht or kvass.

Types of oxalis

Triangular sour (Oxalis triangularis),

or purple sorrel, most often grown in other species indoor culture, is low tuberous plant with dark purple spotted trilobed leaves on long petioles. The violet sorrel leaf resembles the fluttering wings of a butterfly, which is why it was called “Madame Butterfly.” The flowers of this species are small, white, light pink or lilac.

Four-leaf sorrel (Oxalis tetraphylla),

or Deppe's wood sorrel (Oxalis deppei) grown both in the garden and at home. Its leaves are four-lobed, light green with a red-brown center. It blooms for a long time with red-crimson flowers forming inflorescences. It is this species that the British call “lucky clover.”

Bowie's wood sorrel (Oxalis bowiei)

- a fragile heat-loving species 20-25 cm high with leathery leaves of light green color and dark pink flowers on long peduncles.

Common sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)

- a rhizomatous plant 8-10 cm high with clover-like leaves and white single flowers on long peduncles.

Oxalis adenophylla

– bushes up to 10 cm tall with gray-green multi-lobed leaves and large light pink flowers with spots and veins.

Oxalis versicolor

- an amazingly beautiful plant with white flowers with red stripes. The open flower is white on the inside with a red border around the edge.

In addition to these species, Obtus's sour, Oka's sorrel, or tuberous sorrel, carob sorrel, nine-leaved, poor, milky white, nasturtium, succulent, articulated, appressed, triangular and many others are known in culture. But all these beautiful plants are grown in the garden, and this, as they say, is a completely different story...

We've all heard about this beautiful plant, like wood sorrel or a butterfly flower, as it is popularly called for interesting shape leaves. It can often be found in our forests; it becomes especially noticeable in the spring, during flowering, attracting walking travelers with its small delicate white flowers. But few know about interesting property its leaves droop and fold when touched, which makes our sour oxalis similar to the overseas mimosa.

Oxalis is very common as an indoor and garden plant, is also found in the wild and can even be a weed. The most amazing and unusual species of this plant in nature with dark purple leaves and pale pink flowers can be found in South Africa, South America and Mexico. Oxalis got its name from the sour taste of the leaves, which contain oxalic acid and vitamin C. They are also full of carotenoids and vitamin B, which has a beneficial effect on the liver. It reaches a height of thirty centimeters. This small plant has delicate trifoliate leaves, the color of which depends on the species. They may be dark purple, green or spotted. In May-June, during flowering, the oxalis is completely transformed. On thin green stems appear fragile and incredibly beautiful flowers with five velvet petals, the color of which can also be completely different. There are light purple, dark pink, bright yellow, and even coral, but the most common are white. In August, small red seeds shoot out from the ripe fruit capsules, which are then collected and carried by ants.

Popular types and varieties of houseplants oxalis and their photographs

Oxalis (from the Latin Oxalis) is part of the Kislichnye family, which numbers more than eight hundred varieties.

The most famous and widespread in Europe is the perennial Oxalis. (Oxalis acetosella). Like all other species, it is shade-loving, and therefore is often found in spruce forests. It reproduces by means of creeping rhizomes. The height is usually from five to twelve centimeters. Trifoliate green leaves of oxalis with white flowers with pink-violet veins and yellow spot at the base is always easy to spot in the forest.

Oxalis four-leaf. Its main difference from other species is that it has 4 leaves.

The remaining varieties of this flower are more heat-loving and domestic. Four-leaf sour or Deppe's wood sorrel (Oxalis deppei) differs from other species by four, instead of three, light green leaves with a brown-burgundy center, very reminiscent of clover, and bright crimson flowers. Found naturally in Panama and Mexico. Interestingly, it is popularly called “lucky clover”, and it is believed that this flower brings good luck and prosperity to the home.

Oxalis Bovey (Oxalis bowiei) easy to recognize by matte light green leaves and cold pink, rather large flowers on long stalks reaching twenty-five centimeters.

The small gray-green bushes of Oxalis adenophylla cannot help but attract attention, among which the large white ones stand out. purple flowers with veins and a bright yellow base.

And the overseas Oxalis versicolor literally enchants with its fantastic flowers. In the evening, before going to bed, they curl up into wonderful buds with red vertical stripes, and the next morning they open into snow-white flowers with a scarlet border around the edge.

But the most popular today is Triangular Oxalis (Oxalis triangularis) or Purple Oxalis. It grows naturally in Brazil. At first glance, it captivates with its elegance. It has dark purple leaves on long thin shoots, among which pale pink or purple flowers are visible, like bells. This Kislitsa variety is most suitable for growing indoors.

Lighting for sorrel should be diffused

If you want your sorrel to retain its freshness and vigor for as long as possible, it must be properly cared for.

Here are a few simple rules How to care for this “beauty” at home:

• Oxalis should be placed on the windowsill, where you can provide diffused lighting by covering the window with gauze;
• the air temperature should be maintained moderate (in summer - 20-25º, in winter - 12-18º);
• be sure to take care of good hydration of the plant, not allowing the soil to dry out, which is detrimental to sorrel;
• Spraying the leaves in the spring and summer will not be superfluous;
• It is also worth paying attention to feeding the plant with complex mineral fertilizers (from April to August) every two to three weeks;
• keep the plant clean: remove all faded flowers and leaves with signs of damage.

Caring for oxalis during the dormant period

If you notice that your wood sorrel is beginning to wither and shed its leaves, and winter is already in full swing outside (December-February), then your plant begins a dormant period, during which it will also need care and attention on your part. Cut the cuttings by 1-2 cm and place the pot in a cool, dry, dark place. A cellar or basement is perfect for this. Watering and fertilizing will need to be stopped, and only resumed again after one or two months, with the appearance of the first shoots. Also at this time, a pest attack is very likely, so keep a close eye on the plant.

Planting oxalis

After you bring home this “Madama Butterfly”, it must be transplanted into a wide pot so that the plant does not wither and the leaves do not turn pale or yellow. Best time for replanting it is spring, the time when the plant emerges from the dormant period. The soil should be loose, neutral, consisting of part turf, leaf, peat, humus soil and sand. A drainage layer of expanded clay or gravel must be laid at the bottom of the pot. Can also be purchased ready soil For ornamental plants. A month after transplanting you can expect flowering. IN at a young age the plant should be replanted annually, and then every two to three years.

Oxalis propagation

Oxalis reproduces by nodules or daughter bulbs

Oxalis reproduces by nodules or daughter bulbs, division of rhizomes or seeds.

In the first two cases, the “divisions” are planted shallowly in the soil in wide pots of several pieces (5-10) at a distance of ten centimeters, covered with a thin layer of soil, watered moderately and kept in a cool room.

Propagation is also possible using cuttings with leaves. They are placed in a vessel with water and, when the first shoots appear, they are planted in the sand, where the cuttings take root.

Seeds must be sown in the spring (after frosts), without covering them with soil and maintaining constant moisture, for which purpose they must be covered with glass after planting. You should also maintain diffuse lighting and ventilate the crops daily. The temperature should be sixteen to eighteen degrees. Growth can be expected in a month. In general, germinating seeds is a very labor-intensive process, so it is often recommended, especially for novice gardeners, to resort to the above vegetative methods oxalis reproduction.

Plant diseases; Features of treatment and care for indoor oxalis flowers during this period

Also, ensure moderation of watering so that the sorrel does not begin to rot.

Properties of sorrel

Since ancient times, oxalis was considered very useful plant. It was often used in folk medicine because of her unique properties: treated scurvy, wounds and ulcers, removed arsenic or mercury poison. It was also used to heal hypertension, as it is a good choleretic agent. And vitamin C contained in oxalis perfectly strengthens the immune system and promotes collagen production.

Cooking can't do without it either. miracle plant. It is often prepared with its addition. delicious salads, soups and even kvass.

But it is worth remembering that sorrel is still poisonous, and its use in large quantities can lead to the formation of kidney stones (oxalates). Therefore, be careful when planning your diet and consult your doctor.

Watch the video of how four-leaved wood sorrel is planted in open ground.

When I first saw this plant, I exclaimed in admiration: “Yes, this is a butterfly plant!” The owner of the flower smiled in response: “Indeed. And his name is appropriate - Madame Butterfly.” Later it turned out that the plant that attracted my attention, in addition to its aristocratic name, also had a prosaic name - wood sorrel, or oxalis.

In the spring, when replanting, I got several small rhizomes.
I planted them in a ready-made soil mixture for ornamental leafy plants with the addition of sand. Deepened by 2 cm. Sprayed warm water from a spray bottle and placed it on sunny window, into the shadows more tall plants. After about a week, tiny leaves appeared. They developed quickly, and soon a pretty bush of bright purple trifoliate leaves on thin long petioles was already towering over the pot. The plant looked so graceful that passers-by stopped to take a better look at it.

But the most interesting thing begins in the evening: with the last rays of the sun, as if obeying a mysterious signal, the leaves slowly fold up like umbrellas. The family called this phenomenon “Madame Butterfly’s dance.” And when next to her kitchen window The white-veined arrowroot, known for its ability to lift its leaves when the sun sets, has settled in, and we have a “dancing window sill.”

Oxalis turned out to be an unpretentious and grateful plant.

It grows well in soil for ornamental leaf plants; sometimes I add leaf humus when replanting. It loves low and wide pots - its roots grow in breadth, and every year some of them have to be removed so that the plant has enough nutrition. I water it abundantly, the soil in the pot dries out quickly.

I noticed that pests are not interested in wood sorrel, and there was no need to treat it for diseases either.

An important point in life cycle oxalis - period of rest. It occurs at the end of October and beginning of November, with decreasing lighting. When the leaves begin to wither and die, I reduce watering, then stop watering completely and put the pot underground. I lightly moisten the soil several times during the winter.

The plant senses the approach of spring even in the dark and cool: in early April, sprouts hatch. After this, I change the soil for the sorrel, put the pot on a bright window and start watering. The plant remains decorative throughout the summer-autumn season. The leaves are especially saturated in color when the pot is placed on a south or east window. If sorrel gets it less light, it develops more slowly, the leaf petioles lengthen. By the way, such leaves look beautiful in bouquets with irises, bathing suits, and tulips.

Rhizomes left over from spring transplant, I plant it in the garden on a rocky hill.

Oxalis bushes go well with aquilegia, dicentra, ferns, giving the flower garden a touch of exoticism.

In conditions open ground"Madame Butterfly" behaves just as modestly - abundant watering on hot days it's enough for her to be in great shape. And every evening, in the garden and on the windowsill, this beauty performs her exotic dance.

Flowers are like butterflies and butterflies are flowers
Light wings fly over our lives,
And they fall, falling from a height,
When life seems hateful to them...

(Larisa Kuzminskaya)

In the large verbena family for indoor lovers beautiful flowering plants very interesting genus Ugandan clerodendrum (Clerodendrum ugandense)- a liana-like subshrub, broadly lanceolate leaves with inflorescences of rare blue or purple flowers, distinguished by very long, curving blue stamens. Its flowers are often called blue butterflies due to the similarity of the flowers to the latter.

Previously, these plants were called clerodendrons; in the literature on floriculture published before the 90s of the last century, these plants appear under this name. The genus includes up to 400 species. These are often deciduous shrubs (sometimes trees), often climbing.

Distributed in the tropics of Asia, Africa, South America. Some species began to be grown as indoor and greenhouse plants as early as the 19th century. But in lately, due to the tropical boom that has engulfed flower growers, their range has expanded significantly.

The homeland of clerodendrum is the tropics of Africa, Southeast Asia, and Polynesia. Translated, clerodendron means “tree of fate.” The name is associated with a Javanese legend that this plant brings happiness. It is also known under another name - volcameria.

General care features for these plants:
1. Most of them have fragile roots, which must be taken into account when replanting.
2. Many of them are afraid of stagnant water: they need good drainage and careful watering in cold weather. However, in summer, when plants grow quickly, they bloom when high temperature air they need large number moisture and fertilizing.

3. Almost all of them go into a period of rest in the winter, sometimes not completely. At this time, they can be kept cool with scanty watering (especially if the plant has dropped its leaves). They do not require fertilizers during this period.

4. Most of them are difficult to reproduce. It makes sense to try to take cuttings from plants in early spring; it is pointless the rest of the year.

If you follow these simple rules, then clerodendrums will not cause any trouble and will delight owners with long and lush flowering for many years.

This is a fast-growing species of clerodendrum; when growing it, you need to take into account the fact that it grows quickly, but does not begin to branch immediately.

If with early age If you don’t form a crown (and you don’t want to do this, because it blooms at the ends of the shoots), then the lower branches begin to become woody, lose leaves, and the buds on them do not sprout well. As a result, the bush turns out to be ugly.

Therefore, this moment should not be missed immediately after purchase. young plant.
In addition, like the previous species, it really does not like the bay and constantly wet soil, i.e. good drainage and careful watering are necessary.

It propagates, unlike other species, quite easily: cuttings take root in water. True, this happens mainly in spring and early summer; the cuttings should be from the middle of the branch (not lignified and not entirely green).

Apical cuttings sometimes take root, but lignified ones do not want to take root either in water or in the substrate. From the second half of summer, out of 10 cuttings, 1-2 take root, i.e. It's better not to try.

Temperature: Moderate, cool in winter, preferably no higher than 16°C, minimum 10°C. In too warm a room, the leaves turn yellow and wither, but the plant is easily attacked by pests.

Lighting: Bright diffused light with some direct light sun rays. Grows well in western and east window. In winter, clerodendron needs the brightest place, otherwise, if there is insufficient lighting, it will begin to lose leaves.

Growing problems

Clerodendron does not bloom - if it was in too much winter warm conditions, if it has not been transplanted for a long time, when there is a deficiency nutrients in the soil or, on the contrary, there is an excess of them and the plant fattens, while the leaves are especially large and dark green in color.

If the stems of the plant are elongated, the new leaves are small and the plant does not bloom - this is due to lack of lighting or lack of nutrition.
Buds and flowers fall off quickly - if it is too dark and cold, when it is very dry warm air or lack of watering.
Yellow-brown spots have appeared on the leaves, the leaves are drying - sunburn or too much sunlight.