Zebrin striped belongs to the Kommelinov family, the genus Tradescantia. Her homeland is Central America, a territory from Mexico to Florida.
Zebrina has a feature: it has a unique color of foliage. If you look at the photo, it is purple-purple below and two-color above: a purple-green strip passes along the center vein (a narrow edge has the same shade), the sides are silvery on its sides.
Thanks to these signs, the plant is easy to distinguish from other species.
Zephrine Morphology:
- Creeping shoots 0.6-0.8 meters.
- The stalks are smooth, juicy, cylindrical section, purple-violet hue.
- The greens are regular, sessile, broadly lanceolate roundish at the base or oval with a sharp end. Length about seven centimeters, width up to three centimeters.
- The flowers are single, symmetrical, have three petals and a lilac hue. Occur in the axils of the leaves at the tip of the stem.
Flowering begins in spring, summer.
Varieties
A common form is zebrina pendula (hanging). Its dangling shoots form torsion with little rooting. Egg-shaped leaves with an elongated end, grow in 2 rows. They are reddish in color, with 2 silver-white stripes on the outside, purple on the inside. The flowers are rare, pinkish.
Surrounded by a pair of bracts, white below, pinkish-purple above. Pendula lives in the humid tropical rainforests of America and Mexico.
Another variety is Zebrina purpuso. The variety is grown as a houseplant at home. There are no characteristic stripes on the leaves. The stem and greens have a tone of red-olive-greenish. The outer side is pubescent, the inner exposed, purple tone. In the wild, grows in the savannahs of Mexico, at an altitude of four hundred to five hundred meters above sea level.
There are also species: four-color hanging zebrin, flocculose, calathea. The leaves of the first in the middle are greenish with a tint of metal. Framed by their greenish-red or light stripes. The foliage is purple below. Flocculosis is characterized by soft, fleecy greens and purple blooms. Calathea bred specifically for home use. Its leaves are light green, velvety with dark stripes. The plant reaches a length of 45 cm.
Indoor cultivation
The plant is unpretentious: caring for a zebra at home will not take much time. It is almost impossible to ruin it, so even a beginner gardener can cope with the cultivation.
Watering and feeding
The plant tolerates a dry climate well, but because of this, the foliage grows smaller. So that the zebrin does not lose its beauty, it must be watered regularly as the top layer of the earth dries. Tradescantia does not like excess water. Therefore, watering alternates with loosening and irrigation.
Thanks to top dressing, the leaves become larger, and the shoots grow faster. You need to feed the plant every couple of weeks from March to September. Complex fertilizers with minerals for indoor flowers are used for it. They don’t do this in winter. Zebrin and watered less often, because evaporation is reduced.
Lighting, temperature and humidity
The plant likes bright light to enter the room. Therefore, it is best to put a zebrin on the windowsill, from either side, but not from the north. The fact is that there a little light will fall on it, the foliage is crushed. When irrigating in the heat of a plant, it is better to remove it from the windowsill so that it does not receive burns.
Adequate lighting can be created artificially: put additional lamps. Daylight hours at any time of the year should be ten hours.
Humidity for the plant does not play an important role. In the summer, it is recommended to irrigate it with water so that the leaves do not dry out. In winter, this is not necessary.
It grows well at temperatures from +10 to +25 degrees. In very hot weather, it is better to remove the zebrin away from the sun and spray it regularly. In winter, you can not lower the temperature in the room below +8 degrees. Otherwise, the tradescantia will not live long.
Pruning, reproduction, planting, transplanting
The plant tolerates pruning well. It is necessary for him when the shoots are very stretched, promotes branching and rejuvenation. Young shoots will develop rapidly and bloom well. Cut shoots are great for planting.
Usually, a zebrin is brought from a store in a small pot. A few weeks after the acquisition, it is recommended to transplant it into a more suitable standing or hanging container: 2-3 cm more, shallow, wide. There should be drainage holes on the bottom.
Planting tradescantia is best done in a ceramic pot. This material is good for air and water. Plastic does not have such properties, so loosening will have to be done more often. The capacity should be medium-sized, wide, not too deep (the roots of the plant are located close to the surface).
Potted zebrin is not too demanding on the soil, but prefers light and fertile. The soil should consist of humus, garden soil, sand (according to the formula 1: 2: 1). The plant can not be overfed with organics. It may stop looking as it should (it will lose a special color, the grass will turn green).
Tradescantia perfectly survives. Its cuttings and tops take root after a few days.
Reproduction is accomplished by seeds and vegetatively. In the first case, when planting, it is recommended to cover the plant with glass or polyethylene until emergence. In the second place six to eight seeds in one pot. After watering, you can cover the plant with polyethylene for a greenhouse effect.
Young shoots need to be removed away from the sun until they get stronger. With vegetative propagation, cuttings and tops are planted immediately in a permanent pot. After a few days, the roots begin to grow.
Diseases and pests
Tradescantia is a strong and hardy plant. Pests and diseases rarely affect her. Most often, only a scabbard and a spider mite take root. The first parasite conducts its vital activity on the inside of the foliage, characteristic plaques are observed there. When struck by a tick, this is visible when examining the internodes. At the same time, some of the greenery disappears for no apparent reason.
If pests are found on the plant, treatment should be started immediately, otherwise it will die. In the initial stages of the lesion, the tradescantia is treated with a soap solution. After that, it is washed well so that the detergent does not remain on the leaves, and is dried with a hairdryer.
If parasites severely damaged the plant, then treatment with toxic chemicals is necessary. They are sold at any flower shop. Use them strictly according to the instructions.
Harm and benefit, healing properties
Tradescantia well cleans the air in the room from dust, toxins, cigarette smoke. In addition, the plant has useful qualities in diseases such as the common cold, runny nose, tonsillitis, and diabetes mellitus.
The plant has wound healing, hemostatic, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory properties. With the help of zebrina, the following pathologies are treated:
- If the plant is small, you need to take a small leaf of it, grind it in your hand until juice appears. After this, apply greens to the sore spot and fix it with a bandage or adhesive plaster.
- With furunculosis, collect leaves and knead them well. This must be done carefully so that all the juice does not come out. Apply greens to the affected area, cover with polyethylene, fix with a bandage. Leave the compress for 6-8 hours, then change. Repeat until the boil opens.
- With diarrhea, you can prepare an infusion of zebrina. It is necessary to take its stem 20 cm high with greenery. Grind everything thoroughly and pour a glass of boiling water. Insist for several hours, strain and take inside 100 ml 30 minutes before meals.
- To treat tonsillitis from the stems, squeeze the juice and mix it with a glass of warm water. Gargle thrice three times a day.
- To treat a cold, make juice from the stem of the tradescantia. Instill 2 drops of the extract into each nostril 3 times a day.
Any of the above healing recipes must be agreed with your doctor. This will help to avoid adverse effects.
