Sansevieria, or the pike tail flower , as it is popularly called, is a very beautiful and original plant, but absolutely unpretentious, so even a beginner grower can easily cope with it.
Description
Sansevieria belongs to the Agave family. Her homeland is the territory of savannahs and semi-deserts of Africa and Asia, where she grows everywhere in the wild. A pike tail flower is a stemless plant, which is a rosette of dense fleshy, lanceolate leaves, with good care, capable of reaching a length of up to 1 meter. Indoor cultivated several varieties of sansevieria, differing in the shape and length of the leaves, as well as their color. The most common:
- sansevieria is three-lane, the leaves of which are decorated with light transverse stripes;
- Sansevieria trifasciata laurentii, the edges of the leaves of which are decorated with a light yellow border;
- Sansevieria Khan, whose leaves are wider and shorter;
- Sansevieria Khan Golden is a hybrid with a squat rosette, the leaves of which have a light border around the edge.
If you provide a comfortable living environment and proper care, in April – May the pike tail (flower) can please you with flowering. The photo shows what the inflorescence of this plant looks like: milky white small flowers resembling lilies in shape, collected on a delicate fragile peduncle. From them comes a pleasant aroma of vanilla, which intensifies at night. Each plant can bloom only once, and after that the rosette ceases to produce new leaves, so you should take care in time to prepare the planting material for propagation of sansevieria and preserve this original look on your windowsill.
Care
As already mentioned, a pike tail flower is an unpretentious plant. This is due to the fact that it feels quite comfortable in the arid lands of its homeland. So in the room, Sansevieria will require minimal effort from you.
Accommodation
The pike tail grows well in the sun and in the shade, except that varieties with variegated coloring of leaves require a little more light to preserve the pattern. In winter, Sansevieria grows well under artificial lighting. It tolerates direct sunlight.
Watering
Being a native of dry savannas and semi-deserts, a pike tail flower can do without watering for some time, but does not like waterlogging. Watering is moderate, in winter you can reduce it to 1 time in 2-3 weeks. When watering the plant, the middle of the outlet should be protected from moisture entering it, otherwise decay may begin, fraught even with the death of the flower. Sansevieria can do without spraying, enough from time to time to wipe the leaves from dust.
Top dressing
In the warm season, you can feed the plant with fertilizers for cacti. In winter, the amount of top dressing is reduced.
Transfer
A pike tail is usually transplanted once every 2-3 years, if it is noticeable that the roots of the plant protrude from the pot, and it becomes crowded. It is better to choose containers for sansevieria shallow, but wide, since its root system is located in the upper soil layer.
Breeding
Pike tail is propagated in several ways:
- dividing the rhizome - cutting the root into pieces so that there is a growth point on each segment;
- lateral shoots - separating them from an adult plant, and keeping them in a container of water until the roots appear;
- leaves - separating sections of 8-10 cm from the leaf of an adult plant, and placing them in a hotbed with wet river sand until roots, buds and shoots appear.
As you can see, the pike tail is an indoor flower, which is very easy to care for. Just a little attention and care on your part - and your interior will decorate an original and very beautiful plant!