Poliscias is a tropical perennial plant native to Madagascar and the Pacific Islands. It belongs to the small genus Araliaceae, numbering only a few dozen species. Translated from Latin, polyscias means "a lot of shade", which applies to the plant itself with its lush branchy crown and to its habitat - an understory shaded by tall trees. In nature, there are both shrubby and treelike forms of poliscias. The elegant appearance of this tropical dandy is given by its leaves, which can have the most bizarre shape and be painted in different colors.
Description
The long branching roots of poliscias are woven into a kind of net enveloping from all sides a lump of earth. Young shoots and stems have a greenish bark, in the future it acquires a brownish tint. An interesting feature of the branches of this plant is their flexibility: the polissias shoots can even be knotted. The trunk of a young plant is densely dotted with branches, but over time it is exposed - the branches remain only at the top, forming a crown.
The leaf petioles are short in length, the color is most often light green, but in some varieties of poliscias the leaves are bordered by a strip, or decorated with spots of white and beige flowers. The shape of the leaves can be different: cirrus, oblong, round.
Poliscias flowers are small, white, collected in inflorescences resembling an umbrella, and practically have no smell. They can only be seen in the wild - in an apartment, policias never blooms. The flowering period is replaced by the fruiting period, but these fruits are short-lived, and are not used for artificial breeding.
Popular types for home growing
Among the many varieties of poliscias, we can distinguish some of the most popular for breeding and cultivation at home. They are presented in the photo below, and are varied both in appearance and price (which in different stores varies from a thousand to twenty thousand rubles):
- Shrub (fruticosis) - reaches a height of two meters, leaves are curly, elongated, about twenty centimeters long, with serrated edges. The foliage of this plant can be eaten, its use for medicinal purposes is also possible. There is a variety of "roble", the foliage of which resembles geranium;
- Fabian - leaves are round, dark green in color, casting purple. The thick trunk of a plant of this species is covered with a hard bark, similar to woody. One of the popular varieties of this species is vertact;
- Tupolistny - a low bush covered with three to five-lobed leaves, the surface of which is glossy, and the edge resembles a lobe;
- Fern-leaved (aka folysypholia) - reaches two and a half meters in height. In appearance, its leaves, patterned and long, resembles a fern. The foliage grows in dense bunches, which makes the shoots look like bouquets;
- Paniculata - a small shrub, with small oblong or spiky leaves, the edges of which are jagged. The “variegate” subspecies has light yellow spots on the leaf surface;
- Slam-shaped - thin shoots that practically do not branch out from the main thick trunk of this plant. Leaves are tripartite, with a serrated edge, plain or patterned. In some varieties of this species of polyscias, the foliage is spiny, or having lobed edges. In the variety "marginata" the leaves are framed by a light border;
- Balfura is a bush whose shoots are covered with a grayish-greenish bark. The leaves are large, rounded, three-lobed, with an uneven light strip along the edge. The type of "pennoski" has a more elegant foliage, with marble covered with whitish spots, a surface, and a white border around the veins;
- Guilfoil is probably the highest of all the species mentioned. Reaches three meters in height, branches well, leaves are large, with an uneven edge, bordered by a yellowish or white strip. Specially for indoor breeding, varieties called Victoria, Bush or brunch are grown.
Care features: location, lighting, temperature, humidity, watering - seasonal table
Poliscias is a demanding plant, home care for which is not particularly difficult, but has its own nuances, presented in the table below.
Winter autumn | Spring Summer | |
| Location | Avoid direct sunlight (possibly in partial shade). The room must be ventilated, regularly ventilated. Do not place near a window, heater or battery, avoid draft. | |
| Lighting | May require artificial lighting in short daylight hours. | Proper lighting is brighter but diffused, and brighter for varieties with variegated leaves than for others. It is not necessary to obscure variegated poliscias. |
| Temperature | + 17-20 degrees | + 20-25 degrees |
| Humidity | High. Regularly spray the plant with water at room temperature, settled or filtered. Rinse leaves periodically with warm water. The best option is to place a basin, a jar or a bucket next to it. It is good if there is a humidifier in the room. You can put the pot with the plant in a container of wet sand or expanded clay. | |
| Watering | Three days after the drying of the upper soil layer. | Water abundantly, and do it when the top soil layer dries. In the intervals between watering, loosen the soil. |
If you take care of the plant, following these recommendations, it will delight you with its healthy and elegant appearance for a long time.
Choice of capacity, soil, transplant, pruning
For polyscias, you need a large pot with holes on the bottom. The larger its size, the faster the growth rate of the plant.
A small bush cannot be immediately planted in a huge container - its roots will begin to choke, and the soil will become acidic.
The size of the container is commensurate with the height and age of the plant, later a transplant is made. At the bottom it is necessary to pour drainage, for example, from expanded clay.
You can buy the soil in a store, or make it yourself by mixing two parts of the land from the garden with one part of peat and one part of river sand. The mixture must be disinfected by washing it with water with the addition of a potassium permanganate crystalline, or by evaporating it properly.
The transplant is done as it grows: young animals are transplanted once a year in the spring, adult plants - every three years, and also in the spring.
If the bush has reached such dimensions when replanting is not possible, instead of this procedure, the soil is updated, removing its top layer and replacing it with a fresh, fertile one. In order not to damage the root system and not destroy the earthen lump in its center, it is necessary to carefully loosen the soil around the roots, take them out and transfer them to a new container.
Trimming polyscias is of two types:
- Therapeutic, designed to remove dried and weak branches.
- Decorative, with which the plant is given a more aesthetic appearance. It includes: pinching the tops of the shoots - so that the crown retains the desired shape, as well as cutting an excessively long bush with a bare stem - this is a rather unaesthetic procedure, and looking at its result is unpleasant, but such pruning is useful for the plant, as it helps to form a thick and lush crown. Also, the polyscias bush can be cut into a stump, which limits its growth - this method is used to grow bonsai.
Top dressing
The best option is to use ready-made complex fertilizers sold in stores, both mineral (in the form of powder or tablets) and liquid.
In the warm season (the period of active growth and vegetation), police are fed every fourteen days, in the fall - once a month. In winter, the plant is left without additional nutrition.
Breeding
There are two ways to breed polyscias:
- Division - during a spring transplant, a plant is divided into two or more parts. During this procedure, young shoots are cut, which are then transplanted into small containers.
- Cuttings - cuttings are cut with two or more internodes (kidneys). The lower cut must be done at an angle of 45 degrees. Cuttings are planted in pots with a sand-peat mixture, which are heated from below, and covered with plastic wrap from above, or make a semblance of a greenhouse. In a month, the first young shoots will appear on the cuttings. Gradually covering material is removed - first for a few minutes a day, then finally.
The choice of the simplest method is up to the owner of the plant.
Mr. Summer resident warns: Diseases and pests
Weak plants that are not properly contained are most prone to disease.
The most important health condition for poliscias is optimal illumination, humidity, watering and temperature, the norms for which are given above.
With insufficient moisture or excessively heavy watering, the leaves begin to crumble. Cold, drafts, icy water, low room temperature lead to gray rot disease. Dry air - foliage acquires a brownish tint, in the future the plant may die. There is only one method of treatment - to change the conditions and bring them back to normal.
Among the insects that cause polyscias harm, the most common:
- Spider mite, to combat which you can use folk remedies - for example, boil the onion husk, and treat the plant with this decoction, or use tobacco. If this does not help, resort to chemistry;
- Aphids - these pests are collected manually, and the leaves affected by them are cut off, then insecticidal treatment is carried out;
- Scale is an insect that can be recognized by the reddish growths on the foliage. To remove them, you can wash the plant with soapy water and brush it with a soft brush. Insecticides sold in stores are also effective against scabs.
Benefit or harm?
One of the most unpleasant properties of poliscias is poisonousness. Its juice can cause chemical burns, getting it on the skin, mucous membranes, or in the eyes is unacceptable. Pruning and caring for the plant should be done with working gloves; after each procedure, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
At the same time, the plant looks beautiful, unusual, and is able to decorate any house, and several pieces turn the room into a kind of "corner of the tropics." This perennial shrub is a suitable candidate to form a bonsai from it - a dwarf tree, the cultivation of which is an interesting and fascinating hobby.
