Triangular sour (oxalis) is a charming plant that resembles a butterfly with its elegant numerous leaves that are located on curved long petioles. The name of this species comes from the Greek oxys - acidic, spicy: to the taste of the leaves, which is determined by the presence of oxalic acid. Triangular oxalis has about 800 species of various herbaceous shrubs and perennials, spread from the tropics to the taiga.
Bushes grow to a height of 15-20 cm., Forming three- or four-leafed leaves on fragile long petioles. The underground part in plants of these varieties is a cross between a rhizome and a tuber. She's a little pinkish. All sour acids put leaflets at night, and some species and flowers are closed at night.
Triangular acid: care
This plant is very unpretentious. Since sour flowers blooms in single bell-shaped modest flowers or in inflorescences gathered in a brush, she wins the love of all flower growers with her unusual triple-complex leaves. The flowering time of oxalis lasts from March to November, but it turns out that it can be extended by putting the plant in time with artificial lighting. Gramophone flowers can be of very different colors - white, lilac, pink, red. Peduncles continuously replace each other, if you plant more than one plant in a pot, then flowering should be expected to be plentiful.
Despite the exotic, acidic is quite unpretentious. Minimal care is required. After all, she can come to terms even with a serious lack of light, while almost without losing her decorativeness and ability to bloom magnificently. This is especially valuable because many apartments have windows facing north, or simply are in the shade of tall trees. Nevertheless, triangular acid will be better developed in a well-lit place, preferably without hot sunlight.
With insufficient lighting and excessively warm air temperature (more than 20 ° C) leaf petioles are very elongated, and thin leaf blades grow very small. Water sour acid should be moderate, so that the soil does not dry out.
If in winter this plant stands in a humid, cool place and is in a state of moderate dormancy, you can not water it at all, or you can do it very rarely. Wintering plants in the room should be watered once a week. They do not need spraying.
Triangular acid is not very demanding for top dressing. Oxalis are transplanted as they thicken. The soil should be light, preferably: sheet land, sand, peat land (2: 1: 1). Every summer, the plant can be exported to the country. Thus, it will gain strength in the fresh air and acquire a more saturated and vibrant color and a characteristic size of the leaves. Almost all the sour acids grown in rooms under natural conditions are deciduous plants: their leaves die off in the winter and only a few nodules remain in the ground. It is advisable for the plant to arrange dormant periods in the room: reduce watering or completely abandon it, carefully remove all foliage, and place the pot with tubers in a cool, dry place. An unstable restless wintering house depletes the plant very much, then it will not be able to develop and bloom as brightly as quickly.
Breeding
At home, triangular acid does not form seeds, so it is propagated in the usual vegetative way, often by dividing the bush. It grows quite quickly, after two years from a small branch a full-fledged adult specimen is obtained. It is necessary to monitor the water supply, as long-term irrigation can cause decay of leaves and roots, and pests such as aphids, mealybugs and ticks can even start.